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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Istanbul Chess Olympiad R2: Top Seeds Drop Points But Maintain Team Wins

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Defending champions Ukraine suffered a setback when their top board GM Vassily Ivanchuk lost to Qatar's GM  Mohamad Al-Modiahki. But, they won the match 3-1. Ivanchuk was slightly better with Black but succumbed to a queen assault on the back rank. He resigned at once. 

The United States beat Lithuania by 3,5-0,5 after Hikaru Nakamura beat GM Vidmantas Malisauskas in a marathon 107-moves chess game. Azerbaijan had no difficulty beating Ireland even though the latter's young talent FM Ryan Rhys Griffiths drew with GM Rauf Mamedov. France and India defeated Peru and Turkey 2016 respectively by a 3-1 score. Poland beat Costa Rica 4-0. China beat Italy with Wang Hao beating Italian-American Fabiano Caruana on the top board.




Russia allowed two quick draws against Greece, but they continued pushing with the white pieces on the remaining two boards. Both Grischuk and Jakovenko were successful and Russia finished the day with a 3-1 victory.

England defeated Brazil by a narrow margin thanks to the full point of Nigel Short, while the remaining three games were drawn. The same scenario was seen in Germany – Georgia, only this time the "executioner" was Arkadij Naiditsch.

Multiple teams in the Women’s section swept past their opponents with perfect scores – China beat Sweden, while leaving the World Champion Hou Yifan on the bench for the second day in a row; Georgia vs Belgium; and Poland vs Venezuela.

In a stunning game, Brazilian WFM Vanessa Feliciano Ebert held European champion Valentina Gunina to a draw but it was not enough to help her team as Brazil fell to the Russian ladies 3,5-0,5.

Former U.S. Champion Anna Zatonskih rested today while her team mates handed Estonia a defeat by a score of 3,5-0,5. In an Asia-Pacific match-up, India won against Australia with the same score.

The Bulgarian team miscalculated and underestimated their Indonesian opponents. With the top Bulgarian lady and former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova resting, the wily Indonesian team seized advantage of her absence and tied the match.

The top rated competitor in the Women’s Olympiad, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, entered the battlefield today to contribute to her team’s 2,5-1,5 victory against The Philippines.

You can keep track of all the live action at the official website both with game boards and live video.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

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