Chessable Lowenthal Sicilian

39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (11)

Ukraine win the Olympiad for the 2nd time

The winning Ukrainian Team accept the trophy. Photo © Albran.

The winning Ukrainian Team accept the trophy. Photo © Albran. | http://www.theweekinchess.com

2nd seeds Ukraine won the 39th Chess Olympiad by drawing with 3rd place Israel. Hosts and top seeds the Russia I team finished in second place. The event was a personal triumph for Vassily Ivanchuk completing the prestigious double of team gold and individual board 1 gold.

Vassily Ivanchuk starred for the Ukraine. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The Ukraine regained the Olympiad title for the second time (their first title was in Calvia 2004) and on top board Vassily Ivanchuk won the gold medal for best performance with 8/10 to obtain a very desirable double. After the first four rounds where they played their 5th Board Alexander Moiseenko they didn't rest anybody and played the team of Ivanchuk (8/10), Ponomariov (5/9), Eljanov (7/10) and Efimenko (8.5/11).

Israel against the Ukraine. Photo © 2010 Europe-Echecs.

The key moments for the side were their 2-2 draw with Croatia in Round 3, Round 6 where they beat Hungary 3-1 to head the standings again a position they didn't relinquish, and their Round 8 2-2 draw with Russia after which they became strong favourites. They could afford the 2-2 draw in the final round with Israel although because of the complexity of the second tie-break I don't know if a draw for Svidler might have made a difference. This victory is especially impressive as it is against the background of financial problems surrounding the team which led to the loss of Sergey Karjakin to the Russian Team. It will be interesting to see how their finances are in the aftermath of their victory, as their team deserves proper reward.

Vladimir Kramnik saved Russia's blushes by beating Alexei Shirov in the final Round. Photo © 2010 Albran.

Before the event the Russia I team were very much talking about regaining the title that used to be the Soviet Union's and then Russia's almost every time. There was a big bonus available if they did. Russia I took a little while to get going and their Round 5 loss to Hungary (Leko beat Grischuk on Board 1, rest drawn) proved decisive in retrospect, although a win against the Ukraine in Round 8 could have rescued things. But going into the figures they only had one outstanding point scorer in new recruit Sergey Karjakin with 8/10. They may well regret not choosing Ian Nepomniachtchi as their reserve someone capable of high scoring.

Ukraine got the draw they needed for Gold. This wasn't entirely against Israel's interest as it guaranteed Bronze for them too. Photo © 2010 Europe-Echecs.

Israel's draw against Ukraine guaranteed the Bronze Medals. A 50% score by Boris Gelfand on top board was compensated for by a stellar 6.5/8 from Emil Sutovsky to take gold on board 2. Israel were 11th seeds so this was a tremendous result.

Hungary were edged out for Bronze on tie-break. On top board, possibly for the last time, Peter Leko scored 4.5/10 with only his win against Grischuk being cause for celebration, in the last year it is utterly clear he has lost his way and has some major thinking to do. Zoltan Almasi was their star with 7/10. In the last year Judit Polgar has played more than she has in some time after a break due to her new family. She is still feeling her way back and still has a long way to go if she wants to reclaim her top 10 spot. It is probably beyond her, but I think she will recover some places in the world rankings eventually and she scored 6/10.

16th seeds Spain were the only other team apart from Israel to over-perform in the top 10 finishing 8th.

Levon Aronian won in the final Round. Photo © 2010 Albran.

Defending Champions Armenia finished 7th, they were 6th seeds to they finished about where they might be expected. Their wins in the last two Olympiads were over-performances with a good team performance. Levon Aronian scored 7.5/10 and Arman Pashikian scored 7/11. Their loss to bitter rivals Azerbaijan cost them their medal chances.

Magnus, too fashionable to play good chess? Photo © 2010 Albran.

This was a very strong Olympiad with many teams fielding their best sides. The absence of World Champion Viswanathan Anand was disappointing. My feeling is that the problem is that he has practically no relationship with the Indian Chess Federation. India finished 18th and really need Anand to improve on that. Anand was the beneficiary in the FIDE Ratings as World Number One Magnus Carlsen lost three games (4.5/8) including the amazingly horrible game against Sanan Sjugirov. It looked like his mind was elsewhere. Perhaps it is his new fashion career that took his mind off the game. This performance reminded me of Bobby Fischer's terrible Buenos Aires 1960 tournament. Carlsen will remain World Number One albeit by only 10 points from Anand. The same is not true of World Number 2 Veselin Topalov who was also curiously out of form, he scored 5/9 with two losses and will drop to 4th in the World. Perhaps it will take a little time to recover from his loss to Anand. Bulgaria as a team also underperformed greatly, the 8th seeds finished 31st.

England drew their final Round against the Czech Republic. Photo © 2010 Albran.

England were 12th Seeds and finished 24th with Adams scoring 6.5/11, Short 4/8, McShane 5/9, Howell 4,5/8 and Gawain Jones the big success with 6/8. It would be nice if David Howell could be given some help as he is very talented but also frustratingly inconsistent. Losses to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Belarus really damaged their chances of a top 10 finish when they outrated their opponents. Draws against France, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic and a win against Norway were more impressive.

The Russian Women completed a perfect 11/11 score by beating their second team in the final Round. Photo © 2010 Europe-Echecs.

Russia I won the Women's Olympiad with 11 wins from 11, the always strong Chinese were 2nd and the historically strong Georgian's were 3rd.

Istanbul, Turkey will host the 2012 Olympiad. Tromso won the right at this Olympiad to host it for Norway in 2014, the popularity of Magnus Carlsen has been a major boost to their chess. Photo © 2010 Albran.

Of course these Olympiads were described as the best ever. I can't really comment from this distance but they do seem to have been pretty well organised and enjoyable. It seems to me that even though they cut it fine both the Russian Government and new local Governor, who seems to have inherited the problems decided they couldn't fail. The opening and closing ceremonies certainly looked impressive although the "Eurovision" style music could have done with some improvement. The only problems were over the connecting flights to and from Khanty-Mansiysk. As part of his election campaign Ilyumzhinov promised to re-emburse the extra costs.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov closing the Olympiad.

Ilyumzhinov seems to have been the big winner here, I'm certainly thinking one has to procede under the assumption that another 8 years minimum of power for him, there just seems no appetite amongst the delegates to listen to why so many outside the organisation find him so unacceptable. On this assumption I'm not sure that Karpov's acceptance of a post within FIDE is such a terrible thing which I might have a few days ago. It might be time for those who have been waiting for the FIDE leadership to change before contributing to it to review that position because it is clear things aren't going to change on their own. In particular the World Championship cycle still needs regularising and someone needs to make sure that promises made in this campaign are kept. I presume the Chess Lane deal was ratified, we'll see how that changes the landscape of chess, it is to be hoped that that complete nonsense talked by David Kaplan will be replaced by some sort of realistic strategy.

The winners on stage. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The Winning Russian Women's Team. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The really nice living chess pieces return for the closing ceremony. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The winning Ukrainian Team. Photo © 2010 Albran.

39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010

Round 11 (of 11) Pairings

  • ISR 2 : 2 UKR
  • RUS1 2 : 2 ESP
  • POL 1½ : 2½ HUN
  • FRA 2 : 2 ARM
  • RUS2 2½ : 1½ GRE
  • CHN 3 : 1 ITA
  • AZE 2 : 2 RUS3
  • CUB 1½ : 2½ USA
  • ENG 2 : 2 CZE
  • IND 2½ : 1½ GEO
  • BLR 2½ : 1½ SWE
  • NED 3 : 1 SRB
  • SVK 2½ : 1½ RUS4
  • SLO 1½ : 2½ BRA
  • DEN 2½ : 1½ AUT
  • EST 2½ : 1½ PHI
  • VIE 1½ : 2½ IRI
  • MDA 3 : 1 CHI
  • ARG 3 : 1 COL
  • PER 2 : 2 EGY
  • KAZ 3½ : ½ BEL
  • CAN 2 : 2 MNE
  • JOR 1½ : 2½ CRO
  • UZB 2 : 2 FIN
  • BIH 1½ : 2½ BUL
  • GER 1 : 3 ICSC
  • NOR 2 : 2 MKD
  • RUS5 1 : 3 ISL
  • KGZ ½ : 3½ URU
  • LTU 3½ : ½ RSA
  • TUR 2½ : 1½ SUI
  • LAT 1 : 3 QAT
  • 75 matches
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010
Leading Round 11 (of 11) Standings:
Rk.SNoTeamTeamGames + = -TB1TB2TB3TB4
1 2 Ukraine UKR 11 8 3 0 19 380,5 31,0 143,00
2 1 Russia 1 RUS1 11 8 2 1 18 379,5 28,0 157,00
3 11 Israel ISR 11 7 3 1 17 367,5 29,0 148,00
4 5 Hungary HUN 11 8 1 2 17 355,5 26,5 157,00
5 3 China CHN 11 7 2 2 16 362,0 29,0 147,00
6 4 Russia 2 RUS2 11 8 0 3 16 355,0 29,5 144,00
7 6 Armenia ARM 11 7 2 2 16 345,0 27,0 147,00
8 16 Spain ESP 11 7 2 2 16 332,0 28,5 137,00
9 9 United States of America USA 11 7 2 2 16 315,5 27,0 141,00
10 10 France FRA 11 6 4 1 16 311,5 25,0 149,00
11 15 Poland POL 11 6 3 2 15 346,5 29,0 142,00
12 7 Azerbaijan AZE 11 6 3 2 15 333,0 28,0 143,00
13 14 Russia 3 RUS3 11 5 5 1 15 320,5 26,0 144,00
14 35 Belarus BLR 11 7 1 3 15 307,5 27,5 135,00
15 13 Netherlands NED 11 6 3 2 15 305,0 24,5 144,00
16 22 Slovakia SVK 11 6 3 2 15 302,5 26,5 134,00
17 24 Brazil BRA 11 7 1 3 15 290,5 27,0 133,00
18 19 India IND 11 7 1 3 15 287,0 26,5 133,00
19 44 Denmark DEN 11 7 1 3 15 257,5 26,5 119,00
20 17 Czech Republic CZE 11 6 2 3 14 338,5 28,0 142,00
21 30 Italy ITA 11 6 2 3 14 316,5 25,5 148,00
22 25 Greece GRE 11 5 4 2 14 302,5 26,5 132,00
23 18 Cuba CUB 11 6 2 3 14 299,0 26,5 137,00
24 12 England ENG 11 5 4 2 14 292,0 26,0 133,00
25 26 Argentina ARG 11 6 2 3 14 281,0 26,0 128,00
26 48 Estonia EST 11 6 2 3 14 277,0 25,5 130,00
27 41 Kazakhstan KAZ 11 5 4 2 14 274,0 27,0 122,00
28 31 Moldova MDA 11 6 2 3 14 265,0 27,0 122,00
29 38 Iran IRI 11 6 2 3 14 259,5 25,5 129,00
30 20 Georgia GEO 11 6 1 4 13 316,0 27,5 143,00
31 8 Bulgaria BUL 11 6 1 4 13 287,5 26,5 129,00
32 28 Croatia CRO 11 5 3 3 13 284,5 25,0 138,00
150 teams
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010
Leading Board Performances:
Board 1
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2754 Ukraine 80,0 10 2650 8,0 2890
2 GM Aronian Levon 2783 Armenia 75,0 10 2695 7,5 2888
3 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2706 Russia 2 72,2 9 2655 6,5 2821
4 GM Sokolov Ivan 2641 Bosnia & Herzegovina 75,0 8 2605 6,0 2798
5 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2780 Russia 1 61,1 9 2714 5,5 2794
6 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2756 Azerbaijan 65,0 10 2668 6,5 2778
7 GM Movsesian Sergei 2723 Slovakia 72,7 11 2601 8,0 2776
8 GM Wang Yue 2732 China 66,7 9 2647 6,0 2772
9 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2711 Poland 66,7 9 2644 6,0 2769
10 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2726 Russia 3 60,0 10 2671 6,0 2743
11 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2733 United States of America 60,0 10 2669 6,0 2741
12 GM Navara David 2722 Czech Republic 60,0 10 2658 6,0 2730
13 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2681 India 63,6 11 2623 7,0 2725
14 GM Jobava Baadur 2710 Georgia 59,1 11 2654 6,5 2719
15 GM Nyback Tomi 2635 Finland 75,0 8 2524 6,0 2717
16 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2716 Cuba 60,0 10 2638 6,0 2710
17 GM Caruana Fabiano 2700 Italy 55,0 10 2672 5,5 2708
18 GM Shirov Alexei 2749 Spain 56,3 8 2663 4,5 2706
19 GM Gelfand Boris 2751 Israel 50,0 9 2705 4,5 2705
20 GM Adams Michael 2728 England 59,1 11 2625 6,5 2690
Board 2
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Sutovsky Emil 2665 Israel 81,3 8 2644 6,5 2895
2 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 Hungary 70,0 10 2652 7,0 2801
3 GM Wang Hao 2724 China 75,0 10 2590 7,5 2783
4 GM Grischuk Alexander 2760 Russia 1 66,7 9 2651 6,0 2776
5 GM Kamsky Gata 2705 United States of America 70,0 10 2607 7,0 2756
6 GM Radjabov Teimour 2748 Azerbaijan 66,7 9 2630 6,0 2755
Board 3
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Teterev Vitaly 2511 Belarus 87,5 8 2517 7,0 2853
2 GM Eljanov Pavel 2761 Ukraine 70,0 10 2588 7,0 2737
3 GM Rublevsky Sergei 2683 Russia 3 72,7 11 2552 8,0 2727
4 GM Polgar Judit 2682 Hungary 60,0 10 2631 6,0 2703
5 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2709 Russia 2 66,7 9 2575 6,0 2700
6 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2628 Georgia 66,7 9 2548 6,0 2673
Board 4
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Karjakin Sergey 2747 Russia 1 80,0 10 2619 8,0 2859
2 GM Efimenko Zahar 2683 Ukraine 77,3 11 2572 8,5 2783
3 GM Giri Anish 2677 Netherlands 72,7 11 2555 8,0 2730
4 GM Miton Kamil 2629 Poland 75,0 10 2521 7,5 2714
5 GM Berkes Ferenc 2678 Hungary 65,0 10 2576 6,5 2686
6 GM Pantsulaia Levan 2599 Georgia 66,7 9 2560 6,0 2685
Board 5
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Feller Sebastien 2649 France 66,7 9 2583 6,0 2708
2 GM Bartel Mateusz 2599 Poland 77,8 9 2486 7,0 2706
3 GM Babula Vlastimil 2515 Czech Republic 77,8 9 2448 7,0 2668
4 IM Stupak Kirill 2502 Belarus 70,0 10 2511 7,0 2660
5 GM Jones Gawain C B 2576 England 75,0 8 2454 6,0 2647
6 GM Diamant Andre 2498 Brazil 81,3 8 2393 6,5 2644

39th Olympiad Women Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010

Round 11 (of 11) Pairings

  • RUS2 1½ : 2½ RUS1
  • CHN 3 : 1 UKR
  • POL 2 : 2 GEO
  • CRO 1½ : 2½ CUB
  • USA 2½ : 1½ IND
  • VIE 1½ : 2½ AZE
  • GER 1 : 3 BUL
  • RUS3 3 : 1 SRB
  • SLO ½ : 3½ ARM
  • ARG 1 : 3 ROU
  • GRE 3½ : ½ ITA
  • LAT 2 : 2 SVK
  • FRA 3 : 1 MDA
  • ESP 1 : 3 HUN
  • PER 3 : 1 COL
  • ECU 1 : 3 IRI
  • INA 1½ : 2½ LTU
  • ENG 3 : 1 AUS
  • ISR 3 : 1 CZE
  • KAZ 2½ : 1½ SUI
  • UZB 3 : 1 NOR
  • MGL ½ : 3½ BLR
  • NED 3½ : ½ ICSC
  • BIH 3½ : ½ AUT
  • IBCA 1½ : 2½ ALG
  • TUR 2½ : 1½ EST
  • BRA 1½ : 2½ PHI
  • SWE 3½ : ½ BOL
  • VEN 3 : 1 CAN
  • 58 matches
39th Olympiad Women Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010
Leading Round 11 (of 11) Standings:
Rk.SNoTeamTeamGames + = -TB1TB2TB3TB4
1 1 Russia 1 RUS1 11 11 0 0 22 439,5 34,0 147,00
2 2 China CHN 11 9 0 2 18 386,5 31,5 146,00
3 4 Georgia GEO 11 7 2 2 16 384,0 29,0 155,00
4 18 Cuba CUB 11 8 0 3 16 348,5 30,0 136,00
5 6 United States of America USA 11 7 2 2 16 336,5 28,5 140,00
6 10 Poland POL 11 7 2 2 16 336,0 29,5 132,00
7 26 Azerbaijan AZE 11 8 0 3 16 320,0 28,0 136,00
8 12 Bulgaria BUL 11 7 2 2 16 296,5 24,5 147,00
9 3 Ukraine UKR 11 7 1 3 15 366,5 28,5 156,00
10 5 Russia 2 RUS2 11 6 3 2 15 335,5 26,5 152,00
11 7 Armenia ARM 11 7 1 3 15 327,5 28,0 137,00
12 21 Greece GRE 11 6 3 2 15 316,0 28,0 136,00
13 14 Romania ROU 11 7 1 3 15 312,5 28,0 134,00
14 36 Russia 3 RUS3 11 7 1 3 15 287,0 27,0 133,00
15 9 Hungary HUN 11 6 2 3 14 320,5 25,0 159,00
16 11 France FRA 11 6 2 3 14 314,0 29,0 126,00
17 8 India IND 11 7 0 4 14 313,5 26,0 154,00
18 24 Vietnam VIE 11 7 0 4 14 278,0 26,0 131,00
19 29 Iran IRI 11 5 4 2 14 276,0 26,0 129,00
20 41 Lithuania LTU 11 7 0 4 14 261,5 27,0 120,00
21 39 England ENG 11 6 2 3 14 257,5 27,5 114,00
22 27 Croatia CRO 11 6 2 3 14 257,5 23,5 135,00
23 35 Peru PER 11 7 0 4 14 246,5 24,5 126,00
24 15 Slovakia SVK 11 5 3 3 13 317,5 27,0 143,00
25 16 Germany GER 11 4 5 2 13 313,5 26,5 134,00
26 17 Serbia SRB 11 6 1 4 13 304,0 26,5 146,00
27 23 Israel ISR 11 6 1 4 13 290,0 28,0 121,00
28 19 Netherlands NED 11 6 1 4 13 279,5 28,5 119,00
29 37 Kazakhstan KAZ 11 6 1 4 13 279,5 27,0 126,00
30 33 Uzbekistan UZB 11 6 1 4 13 277,5 26,5 131,00
31 22 Latvia LAT 11 5 3 3 13 263,5 25,0 132,00
32 13 Slovenia SLO 11 6 1 4 13 257,5 22,0 140,00
116 teams
39th Olympiad Women Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS), 21 ix - 3 x 2010
Leading Board Performances:
Board 1
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2573 Russia 1 70,0 10 2479 7,0 2628
2 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab 2234 Azerbaijan 81,8 11 2361 9,0 2623
3 GM Hou Yifan 2578 China 72,7 11 2398 8,0 2573
4 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2534 Georgia 70,0 10 2414 7,0 2563
5 IM Muzychuk Anna 2535 Slovenia 70,0 10 2398 7,0 2547
6 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2467 Germany 72,2 9 2358 6,5 2524
Board 2
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2565 Russia 1 85,0 10 2366 8,5 2662
2 WGM Ju Wenjun 2516 China 86,4 11 2327 9,5 2636
3 WIM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 2304 Vietnam 85,0 10 2185 8,5 2481
4 IM Zatonskih Anna 2480 United States of America 65,0 10 2344 6,5 2454
5 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2451 Georgia 55,6 9 2404 5,0 2447
6 IM Zimina Olga 2334 Italy 75,0 10 2253 7,5 2446
Board 3
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 WGM Marrero Lopez Yaniet 2324 Cuba 87,5 8 2175 7,0 2511
2 IM Melia Salome 2439 Georgia 70,0 10 2309 7,0 2458
3 WGM Berzina Ilze 2283 Latvia 81,8 11 2188 9,0 2450
4 GM Zhao Xue 2469 China 70,0 10 2288 7,0 2437
5 WGM Majdan-Gajewska Joanna 2333 Poland 80,0 10 2194 8,0 2434
6 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2524 Russia 1 65,0 10 2323 6,5 2433
Board 4
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 IM Gaponenko Inna 2469 Ukraine 93,8 8 2247 7,5 2691
2 IM Bodnaruk Anastasia 2399 Russia 2 87,5 8 2233 7,0 2569
3 WIM Vasiliev Olga 2293 Israel 77,8 9 2159 7,0 2379
4 IM Dworakowska Joanna 2315 Poland 75,0 10 2174 7,5 2367
5 WGM Baginskaite Kamile 2328 United States of America 75,0 8 2161 6,0 2354
6 WIM Schut Lisa 2288 Netherlands 80,0 10 2109 8,0 2349
Board 5
Rk.TiNameRtgTeam%GamesOpRat.PtsPerf
1 IM Muzychuk Mariya 2464 Ukraine 72,2 9 2265 6,5 2431
2 WGM Kashlinskaya Alina 2358 Russia 2 61,1 9 2247 5,5 2327
3 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2464 Georgia 62,5 8 2194 5,0 2289
4 WFM Hakimifard Ghazal 2173 Iran 62,5 8 2163 5,0 2258
5 WIM Fuchs Judith 2237 Germany 72,2 9 2088 6,5 2254
6 WGM Maisuradze Nino 2273 France 77,8 9 2016 7,0 2236

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