A Olimpíada do Sudário - http://www.bccafe.com.br
Precariedade das instalações e improvisação comprometem o sucesso do evento
A 37a. Olimpíada de Xadrez tem se caracterizado pela precariedade das instalações disponibilizadas às delegações e pela improvisação da organização, fatos absolutamente inconcebíveis em evento de tal magnitude. Era de se esperar condições mais adequadas, principalmente se lembrarmos a Olimpíada de Inverno recentemente sediada em Turim, a qual utilizou as mesmas instalações agora usadas pelos enxadristas do mundo inteiro. Ocorre que a estrutura existente no evento de inverno foi desmobilizada, e agora, quando temos um número maior de pessoas do que naquele evento, o pessoal de apoio foi reduzido a 20% do anterior, causando situações que no início da Olimpíada beiraram o caos. Essas situações vêm sendo contornadas pela Organização na base da improvisação, com as conseqüências decorrentes. A delegação brasileira está hospedada no penúltimo edifício da Vila Olímpica e conseqüentemente um dos mais distantes dos locais de apoio às delegações. O restaurante está localizado a 600 m do edifício da Delegação Brasileira, que para se deslocar para o local dos jogos percorre a pé a distância aproximada de 2 quilometros. Não há condução, e para a volta temos que andar mais 2 quilometros, os veículos não podem entrar na Vila Olímpica. Não há telefone (nem mesmo um telefone público), geladeira, televisão ou internet nos edifícios das delegações, e as pessoas se deslocam até a entrada da Vila para usufruir gratuitamente de um ambiente de conexão sem fio à internet (este local está a aproximadamente 800 m do nosso edifício). Apesar da simpatia e da boa vontade dos funcionários italianos da Vila (particularmente com os brasileiros), as condições oferecidas estão muito abaixo das razoáveis. As instalações para o jogo propriamente dito são boas (o ginásio "Oval" é magnífico), mas não há banheiros suficientes para o número de jogadores que participam da festa.
A Organização do evento realizado na belíssima Turim, que abriga a venerável relíquia do Santo Sudário, poderia poupar o flagelo pelo qual passam os enxadristas do mundo inteiro. Porque se candidatar para realizar um evento tão importante em tais condições?
Cabe perguntar o que faria a FIDE caso tais fatos ocorressem em algum país de terceiro mundo que eventualmente sediasse uma Olimpíada de Xadrez.
Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph commentates on round 1-
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm1.html
Vladimir Kramnik returns to the board for the first time in 2006 after treatment for a medical condition that has adversely affected this play these last few years. Kramnik is top board for the Russian team at the Chess Olympiad underway at Turin. Russia are big favourites to take the gold medals particularly as the holders Ukraine are without Ruslan Ponomariov. Russia started with a 4-0 drubbing of Kazakhstan.
Vishy Anand's Indian team are seeded second but without him they crashed to an embarrassing 1-3 defeat to Morocco in the first round. England won 3.5-0.5 against a team of club strength players from the UAE as Stuart Conquest conceded a draw. Paul Motwani has had to withdraw from Scotland's team but they started by defeating Jersey 3.5-0.5.
There were many surprise results including the defeat of Belarussian GM Alexander Alexandrov by IM Leighton Williams of Wales. Richard Jones held his GM opponent to a draw as the Welsh scored 1.5 points. New Zealand stunned the USA by scoring three draws and Azerbaijan could not defeat Mongolia. The teenage WGM Anya Corke from Hong Kong drew with GM Vladimir Georgiev of Macedonia and Philip Corbin of Barbados defeated a Moldovan IM although I have yet to establish whether it was with his favourite Elephant Gambit.
Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph commentates on round 3.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm1.html
Russian and China were the early leaders at the Chess Olympiad in Turin and were due to meet in round four. Russia beat Germany 2.5-1.5 with wins from world champion Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Bareev while Russian champion Sergey Rublevsky lost. China defeated Scotland 3.5-0.5 in round two with Bu Xiangzhi winning against British champion Jonathan Rowson and then overcame Slovakia by the same score.
Russia only snatched the gold medals against China at the World Team Championships last year with a big win in the last round and once again China are emerging as their main rivals.
England struggled to a 2.5-1.5 win over Turkmenistan and were then embarrassed by Indonesia as Stuart Conquest lost to an unrated player. Michael Adams won again to make the score 2-2.
International Master Leighton Williams of Wales is still the top performing British player with 3/3 although he is having some luck, his two GM opponent's have left a bishop and queen en prise.
Leaders: Russia, China Uzbekistan, Greece, Ukraine Netherlands 10.5/12
33rd England 8
54th Scotland 7
67th Ireland 6.5
74th Wales 6.5
113rd Guernsey 4.5
130th Jersey 2.5
Bulgária vence o Brasil na quarta rodada - http:/www.bccafe.com.br
Derrota pela contagem mínima : 2,5 - 1,5; Feminino empatou com a Irlanda
A equipe olímpica brasileira absoluta de xadrez foi derrotada na quarta rodada da 37aª Olimpíada de Xadrez, que se realiza na cidade italiana de Turim, pela forte equipe da Bulgária (10a. classificada no rating de início da Olimpíada com 2633 pontos). O Brasil, que com o rating médio inicial de 2573 ocupa a 26a. posição, enfrentou os Búlgaros na quarta mesa da competição. Os resultados individuais podem ser vistos na figura ao lado, que é a própria imagem da utilizada em Turim.
O Brasil vem obtendo uma participação muito boa nesse início da Olimpíada de Turim: venceu a desfalcada equipe do Uruguai (rating médio 2248, pré ranqueado 98) na primeira rodada (3,5-0,5 - vitórias de Vescovi, Milos, Leitão e empate de Fier), a Bélgica por 2,5-1,5 (2438, 60a. pré-classificada - vitória de Vescovi e empates de Milos, Sunye e Lima) e Singapura (68a. pré-classificada, rating médio 2388) por 3,5-0,5 (vitórias de Vescovi, Leitão, Fier e empate de Milos). Na quinta rodada a equipe brasileira enfrentará Cuba, rating médio 2598, 18a. pré classificada.
A equipe olímpica feminina brasileira vem cumprindo uma campanha irregular: foi derrotada na primeira rodada pela forte equipe da India por 3,0 - 0,0 (perderam Regina, Paula e Joara), recuperando-se parcialmente na 2a. rodada vencendo Botswana por 3-0 (jogaram Paula, Joara e Suzana), perdendo na terceira rodada para a Inglaterra (empate de Joara e derrotas de Regina e Suzana) e empatando na 4a.rodada contra a equipe da Irlanda, 1,5 - 1,5 (empates de Regina, Paula e Suzana). Continuando a enfrentar os países do Reino Unido, a equipe brasileira jogará na 5a. rodada contra a equipe da Escócia.
Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph commentates on round 4.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm1.html
Victories for Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk in round four gave Russia a 3-1 win over China and kept them at the head of the field at the 38th Chess Olympiad in Turin. Russia led on tie break from Armenia who defeated a decent Norwegian team 4-0 and in the fifth round the teams met and drew 2-2 as Vladimir Kramnik scored a significant win over the rising star of world chess Levon Aronian.
The English tale of woe continued as the team lost to Turkey, albeit a Turkey with Mikhail Gurevich their Russo-Belgian import. Michael Adams won again, defeating Gurevich but Danny Gormally and Nick Pert both lost. However in round five England defeated Kazakhstan 3-1.
It seems to be another case of Michael Adams playing very well, Nigel Short playing reasonably well, Jon Speelman being solid and reliable and the rest underperforming. England miss Luke McShane who is at university and of course Matthew Sadler who has retired and Julian Hodgson who I hope can be convinced to return to the board at the forthcoming Smith and Williamson British Championships in Swansea.
The USA made their move up the table in round four beating a very strong Polish team 3-1. Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura both won. Kamsky won again defeating Baadur Jobava in a round five 2.5-1.5 win over Georgia.
Scotland beat Kyrgystan 3-1 to move ahead of England and they remained the top British team after a 3-1 win over Egypt in round five.
Leaders: Russia, Armenia 15.5; Netherlands 15; Uzbekistan 14.5; Spain, Ukraine, USA, Bulgaria, Belarus, Iran, Sweden, 14;
27th Scotland 13
31st England 12.5
35th Ireland 12.5
80th Wales 9.5
129th Guernsey 6.5
135th Jersey 5.5
Brasil conquista importante vitória sobre Cuba - www.bccafe.com.br
Vitória de Rafael Leitão decidiu o match; Feminino venceu a Escócia por 2-1
A equipe olímpica brasileira absoluta de xadrez (rating médio 2573, 26a. colocada na pré-classificação no início da Olimpíada) conquistou na quinta rodada da 37a. Olimpíada de Xadrez que se desenvolve em Turim uma importante vitória sobre a forte equipe de Cuba (rating médio 2598, 18a. pré-classificada). Terminaram empatadas as partidas entre os Grandes Mestres Giovanni Vescovi (brancas) contra Lázaro Bruzón , Gilberto Milos (pretas) contra Leinier Dominguez e Jaime Sunye (pretas) contra Yuniesky Quezada . A partida que decidiu o Match foi travada entre o brasileiro Rafael Leitão (brancas) e o cubano Neuris Delgado (foto) . Leitão, jogando com muita firmeza, decidiu o Match a favor dos brasileiros, que conquistaram assim a sua segunda vitória sobre os cubanos na história das Olimpíadas.
A equipe brasileira vem desempenhando um bom papel na Olimpíada de Turim, estando com 13,5 pontos conquistados em 20 possíveis. Amanhã será dia de descanso e no sábado, dia 26 será jogada a sexta rodada.
A equipe brasileira feminina conquistou uma boa vitória sobre a Escócia. Jogando com as brancas Regina Ribeiro empatou com Helen Milligan , Paula Delai (pretas) empatou com Rosemary Giulian e Joara Chaves , jogando com as brancas decidiu o Match a favor do Brasil, derrotando Amy Officer .
Brasil enfrenta Vietnã na mesa 12 com as pretas -www.bccafe.com.br
Darcy Lima decidiu contra a Grécia; derrota contra o Uzbequistão na mesa 5
A equipe olímpica brasileira absoluta de xadrez venceu a equipe da Grécia pela sexta rodada da 37a. Olimpíada de Xadrez, que se realiza na cidade italiana de Turim. Os GMs Giovanni Vescovi , Rafael Leitão e o MI Alexandr Fier empataram as suas partidas e o match foi decidido por uma boa vitória do GM Darcy Lima (foto). A vitória nesse match teve um sabor especial, poi o Brasil havia sido derrotado pelos gregos nas últimas duas Olimpíadas. Pela sétima rodada o Brasil foi derrotado pela equipe do Uzbequistão, por 3 x 1 - empates dos GM´s Giovanni Vescovi e Jaime Sunye e derrotas do GM Gilberto Milos e do MI Alexandr Fier .
Hoje pela oitava rodada, com a equipe formada pelos GM´s Gilberto Milos, Rafael Leitão, Jaime Sunye e Darcy Lima , o Brasil enfrentará a forte equipe do Vietnã, jogando o primeiro tabuleiro com as pretas, na mesa 12. O Brasil, com 17 pontos, está classificado no 21o. lugar dentre os 148 participantes da 37a.Olimpíada de Xadrez de Turim. Surpreendentemente a liderança é da equipe da Armênia , que está 1 ponto à frente da favorita Rússia .
Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph commentates on round 6.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm1.html
The Netherlands have beaten the Russians again. After their victory at last year's European Team Championship the Dutch upset the favourites with a 2.5-1.5 victory in round six of the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. The Russian champion Sergey Rublevsky was the villain losing with white to Friso Nijboer on board four. It could have been much worse for Russia as Alexander Grischuk held on to draw a horrible endgame a pawn down against Loek Van Wely.
Rublevsky's loss came after a blunder in a level position that just lost a pawn. I can only imagine it was a desperate attempt to win because at that stage Grischuk look destined to lose. Russia's defeat allowed Armenia to take the sole lead by virtue of a narrow win over Uzbekistan and they play second placed Holland next.
The USA continued to progress despite a first defeat for Gata Kamsky and they overcame China 2.5-1.5. Another notable result was Cuba's 3.5-0.5 defeat of Azerbaijan which included a defeat for Teimour Radjabov. Scotland could have upset Georgia as Colin McNab was better and lost while Jacob Aagaard was completely winning but drew.
It was another grim day for England as they failed to overcome the might of Peru a team rated around 200 points lower per board. Danny Gormally lost again after standing better. However, encouragingly, Stuart Conquest remembered how to move the pieces and ‘marmalised' his opponent.
Leaders: 1 Armenia 18; 2 Netherlands 17.5; 3-4 Russia, Belarus 17; 5-8 Ukraine, USA, Sweden, India 16.5; 33 England 14.5; 43 Scotland 14; 58 Ireland 13, 94 Wales 11, 124 Jersey 8.5, 129 Guernsey. 148 teams.
Empate contra o Vietnã; hoje enfrentaremos a Indonésia
http://www.bccafe.com.br
Rafael Leitão vence novamente e mantem o melhor desempenho dentre os brasileiros; Feminino enfrenta a Nigéria
A Equipe Olímpica Abasoluta Brasileira empatou na rodada de ontem com a Equipe do Vietnã , 2x2, vitória de Rafael Leitão, empates de Gilberto Milos e de Jaime Sunye e derrota de Darcy Lima (veja o placar fotografado diretamente do torneio ao lado). Com esse empate, o Brasil encontra-se agora na 28a. colocação do torneio, com 19 pontos conquistados. A liderança está com a surpreendente Armênia com 24 pontos, dois à frente da favorita Rússia.
Clique Aqui para ver o vídeo da 8a. rodada.
Na rodada de hoje, na ensolarada Turim (28 graus na tarde de ontem), enfrentaremos a equipe da Indonésia ( vide quadro abaixo ), jogando com as brancas no primeiro tabuleiro, com os Grandes Mestres Giovanni Vescovi, Gilberto Milos, Rafael Leitão e o MI Alexandr Fier . A Indonésia é a 45a. pré classificada no início da Olimpíada de Turim e vem cumprindo um bom desempenho, tendo como destaque o forte GM Utut Adianto, com o rating Elo de 2589.
O clima na equipe brasileira é muito bom e os jogadores estão muito animados e confiantes na possibilidade de cumprirem uma boa participação na 37a.Olimpíada de Xadrez de Turim .
A Equipe Brasileira Feminina , que ontem empatou com a Guatemala (vitória de Regina Ribeiro , empate de Joara Chaves e derrota de Paula Delai ), pela 9a. rodada enfrentará a Equipe da Nigéria .
Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph commentates on round 7.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm1.html
Armenia stayed at the head of the field at the 37th Chess Olympiad taking place at Turin with an impressive 3-1 win over the Netherlands. World number three Levon Aronian bounced back from his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik and despatched Ivan Sokolov before the latter had developed any of his kingside. This crushing win set the tone for the match and the Armenians stretched their lead to a full point.
Russia also won 3-1 against Belarus with Kramnik demolishing the Berlin Wall, an opening variation he popularised by confounding Garry Kasparov with it in their world title match at London in 2000. This game also finished rapidly after a bizarre blunder by Alexey Alexandrov.
England lost to Norway as the teenage prodigy Magnus Carlsen ground down Michael Adams in a long endgame that seemed tenable but, at the Fide time limit, in practice, was very hard to defend. It was a very mature game by the 16 year old. Nigel Short played superbly and has now drawn three with black and won three with white but Jon Speelman's switch from solidity to creativity failed and a pawn sacrifice never worked out.
Scotland are the leading British team again after defeating Finland 2.5-1.5. Jon Shaw now has 4/4, quite a way to celebrate the ratification of his GM title. Jonathan Rowson outplayed Tommy Nyback and missed a difficult win.
Leaders: 1 Armenia 21; 2 Russia 20; 3 Cuba 19.5; 4-7 Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Georgia, Czech Rep 19; 8-13 Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, USA, Sweden 18.5;
Scotland 16.5; England 16; Ireland 14.5, Wales 14, Guernsey 10.5 Jersey 10;..
Mark Horton and Mark Crowther comment on round 8.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm8.html
Mark Horton is on the spot for the final rounds of the Olympiad. He writes for Bridge Magazine . As he is already booked to write the Daily Bulletin at the Bridge Championships the opportunity to visit the Chess event could not be missed.
He writes "I suppose you might call it some type of bus man's holiday. At the very least I can compare how two major International events are run - there should be pros and cons for both sides. As I arrive Armenia are setting the pace, but the most exciting part of the day has been actually gaining access to the playing area! The Oval is an imposing building - easily big enough to stage two Olympiads - and is only 20 minutes walk from my hotel. I arrived at 09.30 - but the security guard told me I needed a badge - and I cou7ld only get it from the adjacent Olympic Village. I use the word adjacent in its loosest sense, as the easy way to get there, via the connecting bridge, is - guess what - not possible without a badge! I found an alternative route which involved the dubious crossing of the main railway lines but when I reached the village Security would not let me in - no badge! They explained that I could only get a badge from the Oval. I was beginning to think I was in a movie with Bill Murray, but on my next trip to the Oval normality was restored and I fianlly got a badge that gets me in to all the important spaces.
Viswanathan Anand and his wife Aruna in conversation. Kiril Georgiev easily drew with Anand in round 8. Photo © Mark Horton.
I would love to tell you how the games are going but at the moment the ICC connection is down so I am off to the Press Room to see if they have Internet access, then to take a few pictures. You can expect more news on a daily basis.
Armenia and Cuba Match round 8 Photo © Mark Horton
Yesterday the Armenians converted their advantage in two of the four games - it seemed to me that their opponents may have missed some chances to make life more difficult, but I was analysing without the computer - so you can never be sure. By the way, if you want to experience the latest white knuckle ride there is no need to go to Alton Towers or Orlando - just get a Taxi from the airport into Turin. The ICC are working on a new interface - ICC Dasher - having seen the prototype it looks impressive. The Daily Bulletin - Turin Moves - is short on games - only one yesterday - but full of information. Still, they could learn from the ones that are produced at the major Bridge events.
Gelfand - Radjabov post-mortem after their draw in round 8. Photo © Mark Horton
Mark Crowther writes:
Round 8 saw the leaders Armenia extend their lead with a 3-1 victory over Cuba. They drew their games with black and won with white. with Akopian - Dominguez being a complex struggle which should probably have ended in repetition. On move 40 Dominguez instead dropped a pawn and he was then ground down. Quezeda too had some drawing chances against Sargissian.
The Russians had deep problems in their match against the Czech Republic. David Navara took advantage of some risky play from Peter Svidler to carve open the position for an easy win. Grischuk got nothing against Hracek, Alexander Morozevich made a real mess of his King's Indian against Babula but found complications which eventually meant the latter lost on time in a winning position. Bareev won the exchange against Laznicka but the latter held easily enough.
Mark Horton and Mark Crowther comment on round 9.
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm8.html
Mark Horton is on the spot for the final rounds of the Olympiad. He writes for Bridge Magazine . He reports that there have been a "huge number of visitors to our joint Chess/ICC stand, the latest of them being Australian GM Ian Rogers, who is doing a webcast on his game against Istratescu. He mentioned that competitors staying in the Olympic village have to walk 3 kilometers to the venue – plus they have no working public telephones or washing machines. To combat the former more and more players are braving a trip across the railway lines - suggestions to over come the latter are still under discussion."
England beat Mexico 2.5-1.5. Photo © Mark Horton
He adds: "One of the biggest differences I have noticed between a major bridge and chess event is the distinct lack of spectators at the venue. At a World Bridge Championship the important matches are shown in a theater style presentation with expert commentary and can draw audiences of up to two thousand people. Here eight games are projected onto two giant screens, but there is no commentary – impossible the way the building is put together, but clearly a major disadvantage for the spectators. That's one for Dresden to think about."
The leaders Armenia took on the Ukraine in round 9. The top three boards were all balanced with a particularly heavyweight struggle between Vassily Ivanchuk and Levon Aronian. Armenia took the match with a victory for Gabriel Sargissian over Alexander Moiseenko. The Russians were hoping for a favour from the Ukrainians to get their title chances back on track, instead they fell further back. Vladimir Kramnik got a tiny edge against Etienne Bacrot which never looked like being converted. Alexander Grischuk took a quick draw against Joel Lautier with black. Alexander Morozevich got nothing out of the opening against Andrei Sokolov who then took an easy draw. It was left to Laurent Fressinet to find a really nice attacking idea at the end of his game against Sergey Rublevsky which brought about an almost immediate blunder in a position which was probably still tenable.
Acabou mais uma olimpíada - http://www.fpx.com.br
FPX -- 4.jun.2006 - 11h37
Na minha opinião, o Brasil poderia ter se saído melhor no absoluto. Milos , como aconteceu no Mario Covas, não conseguiu encaixar seu jogo. Giovanni , segundo ele mesmo, poderia ter ido um pouco melhor, apesar de ter jogado com jogadores mais fortes. Já Darcy , Sunye e Fier jogaram pouco abaixo de suas forças. No feminino , poderíamos ter ido melhor. O que importa é que todos lutaram por uma boa colocação.
Foi uma grande experiência para mim. É muito bom estar em uma olimpíada, participar de uma olimpiada. Imagino então como deve ser jogar. A fraternidade e companherismo de todos foi importante, destaque para Solon Pereira -- sempre de bom humor e pronto para todos os programas e passeios. Tenho certeza que conseguiremos apresentar uma melhor organização quando realizarmos uma em São Paulo.
Kirsan continua presidente por mais 4 anos, ganhou de 96 a 54.
Destaque para a medalha de prata de Rafael e a de ouro de Larrea, do Uruguai, que, após ter jogado o Regina Helena em Santos, fez 7 pontos em 8. Perdeu somente para Rafael e ainda assim conquistou a medalha de ouro.
Estamos voltando nesta segunda-feira à noite. Giovanni, Darcy, Sunye, Garcez, Joara e Suzana permanecem mais tempo na Europa, jogando ou passeando.
Mark Crowther on round 13
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/turinm13.html
There wasn't much suspense over the gold medal in the final round. Two and a half points clear going into the round they obviously came to an agreement with Hungary to halve the match as all the games were over very quickly (something well within the rules and history, I'm not keen on it).
This left the minor medals to be decided. China were in second place going into the round half a point clear of Russia. China secured second place with a 2.5-1.5 win over the Netherlands. Bu Xiangzhi drew against Ivan Sokolov, Zhang Pengxiang lost to Sergey Tiviakov in the final game to finish. Wang Yue beat Loek Van Wely and Ni Hua beat Friso Nijboer.
Normally this excellent result would have given Israel a well deserved Bronze medal but an almost as crazy results occurred in the match USA - Norway where the US triumphed 3.5-0.5 and squeeked the bronze medal on tie-break.
Magnus Carlsen had a terrific Olympiad and he comfortably held Gata Kamsky with black but wins for Alexander Onischuk over Simen Agdestein, Hikaru Nakamura over Leif Erlend Johannessen and Varuzhan Akobian over A Lie Kjetil took the Americans to an unlikely medal.
After winning as the Soviet Union and Russia all the Olympiads between 1952 and 2002 apart from 1976 (which they boycotted) and 1978 (which they lost out to Hungary) the Russian team have now failed to capture two Olympiads in a row. They were clearly strongest team but lost an unprecedented four matches including a disastrous 3-1 route in the final round against the Ukraine that put them out of the medals for the first time since the war. Mind you it could be said that India had an even worse time of it. Second seeds they finished in 30th place. The completely deserved winners were Armenia. They were third seeds but with two heavy hitters in Levon Aronian and Vladimir Akopian (who had an especially good Olympiad) in addition to the over achieving Gabriel Sargissian they were always going to be formidable. They'd been bronze medal winners in the last two events (from 9th seeds in 2002 and 4th in 2004) and proved themselves to be keen competitors. This time they had a rising star in Levon Aronian on top board who is currently three in the world and still improving.
In second place were 12th seeds China. They were clearly the benificiaries of other teams failings. They lack the stars but were a fighting side whose consistant results left them with the silver in the end by a point which is actually quite a lot.
The USA were defeated in the penultimate round by Israel but their reward was Norway who they defeated 3.5-0.5 (the half came from one of the stars of the whole Olympiad Magnus Carlsen) to get their revenge on Israel by pipping them for Bronze on tie-break. Israel themselves couldn't have had much hope at the start of the round as they faced Russia, but they won clearly 3-1 and must be bitterly disappointed to have been caught.
4th seeds Ukraine (without Ruslan Ponomariov but still strong) and 5th Seeds France finished 8th and 7th respectively which considering the travails of the top seeds may be seen as an opportunity missed.
The Olympiad is such a big and sprawling event that individual performances can be lost. There were however four very significant performances over 2800. Vladimir Kramnik returned to chess for the first time in 2006 after treatment for his illness (some sort of crippling arthritic complaint). He did so with the top rating performance in the Olympiad 6.5/9 at 2847. This is good news for chess as the treatment seems to have reversed at least 18 month of decline for him just in time for Dortmund and his title match against Topalov. Wang Yue scored 10/12 (2837) and over 1/3rd of the points China accumulated on their way to their silver medal. Etienne Bacrot has struggled recently but his 6/8 for France at 2833 will be welcome for him. Finally all eyes were on Magnus Carlsen in his second Olympiad on top board for Norway (just checked this couldn't believe he was top board last time also!). His 6/8 as a fifteen year old at 2820 simply confirms his quality. Ironically Sergey Karjakin who is only a few months older than Carlsen and there is a strong suspicion that they'll be rivals at the top of the game for years had the fifth best performance at 2798.
