Monday, October 4, 2010

R11: Estonia vs Philippines

3 comments:

rjsolcruz said...

ChessBase.com
2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine is gold, and Russia is silver
03.10.2010 – It had all the hallmarks of a nail-biter, and we were not disappointed. Ukraine held Israel at bay while waiting to see how Russia did against Spain. All looked good when Kramnik surprised Shirov in the opening and proceeded to outplay him, but the Spaniards struck back with a surprise win by Salgado over Svidler. This sealed their fate, and hands were shaken.

rjsolcruz said...

ugra-chess.com
Ukrainian men’s national team won the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk


The national men’s team of Ukrain became gold medalist of the 39 th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk.

The last match of Ukraine against Israel ended in a draw and they finished one point ahead of their main opponent Russia – 1 that in the same round shared points with the national team of Spain. Russians won silver.

There are several runners for the title of bronze medalists. Apparently their results will be announced after all the games of the men’s section will be over and after the additional calculation of the scores.

rjsolcruz said...

Huffington Post
by Lubomir Kavalek

Ukraine Wins Chess Olympiad
To win gold medals at any chess olympiad, you need exceptional performances of at least two players who know how to take risks and collect points. But you also need a few others who can steady the team -- solid players hard to defeat. If that is not enough, you need some luck. The team of Ukraine had it all at the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, that finished Sunday.

Led by the amazing GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ukraine clinched the gold undefeated, winning eight matches, tying three and collecting 19 points. Russia's top team finished with the silver medal with 18 points. Israel tied for third place with Hungary with 17 points, but won the bronze on a better tiebreak.

In the Women's olympiad, Russia 1, led by the Kosintseva sisters, Tatiana and Nadezhda, and by the women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, grabbed first place, winning all 11 matches, collecting 22 points. China sneaked into second place with 18 points. The once powerful team of Georgia won the bronze medal with a better tiebreak over several teams, including the U.S. team.

We can speculate why the all-mighty Russian team did not win. A loss to Hungary didn't help, but an all-out effort by Russia's GM Peter Svidler, who lost against Spain in the last round, allowed the Ukrainian team to tie their last match against Israel 2-2 and clinch the gold. In the end the dreaded tiebreak worked out well for Israel.

Ukraine had two players among the top 10 performers. Ivanchuk's 8-2 score was the best on the first board, earning him 2,890 performance points. It was eclipsed only by 5 points by the Israeli second board, GM Emil Sutovsky. GM Sergei Karjakin, an Ukrainian deserter who believed that his career can advance better in Moscow, was the top scorer for Russia's fourth board.

Russia didn't win despite a huge monetary bonus promised to each member for the first place. When was the last time they won? Those interested in the answer can visit
Olimpbase, an incredible, monumental web site, covering all olympiads to date and various team events.

Ukraine had two steady players: the former world champion GM Ruslan Ponomairov, with 5-4, and GM Pavel Eljanov, with 7-3. The biggest surprise was the performance of GM Zahar Efimenko, 25, who chipped in with a 8,5-2,5 score.