Heroes of the day!

Turkey tore up the form book and shocked Israel who had optimistically rested their top two boards.
Nakamura won again and so enabled the USA to take the lead with Russia only drawing against Armenia.
The USA have two tough matchs remaining so will still have to play at their best to stay ahead of their main rivals.

The battle for first place may be hotting up but it was the lowly Turkish side that created the big news by beating an Israeli side rated on average 160-odd points higher! What next?

Russia 2 - 2 Armenia

Morozevich 0-1 Akopian

Tomashevsky 1-0 Sargissian

Egypt 1.5 - 2.5 India

The former World Junior Champion Ahmed Adly has a honorable 4.5/7 on top board for Egypt.

Ahmed Adly from Egypt, happy about his form
© official site

Israel 1.5 - 2.5 Turkey

Average ratings: Israel 2649 Turkey 2487

Bravo to the Turkish team who are continuing to battle away despite having a difficult time.

Sutovsky and Rodshtein both had their first losses and their opponents, Yilmaz and Esen, their first wins!

Brazil 0.5 - 3.5 Azerbaijan

Brazil have been out of form so far but play Turkey tomorrow in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

Greece 1.5 - 2.5 United States

Kotronias 0-1 Nakamura

Nakamura now has 5.5/6 and Onischuk 5.5/7, both of whom are now favourite to take their respective board prizes. Naturally this fact goes a long way to explaining why the US have been able to win six matches so far.

The USA are one match point ahead but have to face Armenia and Azerbaijan in the last two rounds. Russia have Egypt and Israel and must still fancy their chances.

Rank

Country

Match (Game) pts.

1	USA	6	0	1	12 (18)
2	Russia	5	1	1	11 (17.5)
3	Azerbaijan	4	1	2	9 (17)
4	India	4	1	2	9 (15)
5	Armenia	3	2	2	8 (15)
6	Israel	3	1	3	7 (14.5)
7	Greece	3	0	4	6 (14.5)
8	Egypt	1	1	5	3 (10.5)
9	Turkey	1	1	5	3 (8.5)
10	Brazil	1	0	6	2 (9.5)

As for the individual performances, the highest percentages on each board are highlighted, on the condition that the player has played at least four games.

The highest performing player of all is Mamedyarov with 6.5/7 closely followed by Nakamura's 5.5/6 on board 1!

Russia rating average (over top four) 2729

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Alexander Grischuk	2736	2	3	0	70
2	GM	Dmitry Jakovenko	2730	1	3	0	62.5
3	GM	Alexander Morozevich	2732	1	2	3	33.3
4	GM	Evgeny Tomashevsky	2705	2	1	1	62.5
5	GM	Vladimir Malakhov	2716	2	3	0	70
6	GM	Nikita Vitiugov	2692	3	1	0	87.5

Match points 11

Game points 17.5

Azerbaijan rating average 2718

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Vugar Gashimov	2759	1	2	3	33.3
2	GM	Teimour Radjabov	2733	2	4	0	66.6
3	GM	Gadir Guseinov	2614	0	2	1	33.3
4	GM	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2741	6	1	0	92.9
5	GM	Rauf Mamedov	2640	1	1	2	37.5
6	GM	Nidjat Mamedov	2610	1	1	0	75

Match points 9

Game points 17

Armenia rating average 2697

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Levon Aronian	2781	2	4	1	57.1
2	GM	Vladimir Akopian	2678	3	3	1	64.3
3	GM	Gabriel Sargissian	2680	1	4	1	50
4	GM	Arman Pashikian	2647	1	2	1	50
5	GM	Tigran L Petrosian	2627	0	3	1	37.5
6	GM	Tigran Kotanjian	2537

Match points 8

Game points 15

Israel rating average 2686

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Boris Gelfand	2761	1	2	2	40
2	GM	Michael Roiz	2657	0	4	0	50
3	GM	Ilia Smirin	2668	1	3	1	50
4	GM	Emil Sutovsky	2657	3	2	1	66.6
5	GM	Evgeny Postny	2648	1	2	0	66.6
6	GM	Maxim Rodshtein	2622	0	3	1	37.5

Match points 7

Game points 14.5

USA rating average 2658

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Hikaru Nakamura	2708	5	1	0	91.7
2	GM	Alexander Onischuk	2670	4	3	0	78.6
3	GM	Yuri Shulman	2624	0	3	2	30
4	GM	Varuzhan Akobian	2628	2	3	1	58.3
5	GM	Robert L Hess	2572	1	0	1	50
6	IM	Ray Robson	2570	0	2	0	50

Match points 12

Game points 18

Alexander Onischuk is the best second board in Bursa
© official site

India rating average 2641

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Krishnan Sasikiran	2653	3	3	1	64.3
2	GM	Pentala Harikrishna	2672	1	3	2	41.7
3	GM	Shekhar Ganguly Surya	2654	1	4	0	60
4	GM	Gopal Geetha Narayanan	2584	1	2	1	50
5	GM	Subramanian Arun Prasad	2567	1	2	1	50
6	IM	Baskaran Adhiban	2511	0	2	0	50

Match points 9

Game points 15

Brazil rating average 2625

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Giovanni Vescovi	2660	0	2	5	14.3
2	GM	Rafael Leitao	2620	1	4	0	60
3	GM	Alexandr Fier	2601	0	6	1	42.9
4	GM	Gilberto Milos	2618	0	4	2	33.3
5	GM	Andre Diamant	2497	0	1	2	16.7
6	GM	Darcy Lima	2481

Match points 2

Game points 9.5

Greece rating average 2601

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Vasilios Kotronias	2599	0	3	3	25
2	GM	Ioannis Papaioannou	2625	2	3	1	58.3
3	GM	Hristos Banikas	2608	2	5	0	64.3
4	GM	Stellos Halkias	2566	2	2	1	60
5	GM	Dimitrios Mastrovasilis	2571	1	1	0	75
6	GM	Athanasios Mastrovasilis	2510	0	1	1	25

Match points 6

Game points 14.5

Egypt rating average 2519

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Ahmed Adly	2591	3	3	1	64.3
2	GM	Bassem Amin	2544	2	3	2	50
3	IM	Mohamed Ezat	2471	0	0	3	0
4	IM	Khaled Abdel Razik	2468	0	2	3	20
5	IM	Imed Abdelnabbi	2448	0	2	1	33.3
6	IM	Walaa Sarwat	2386	0	1	2	16.7

Match points 3

Game points 10.5

Turkey rating average 2501

Board	Title	Name	Rating	Wins	Draws	Losses	Percentage
1	GM	Kivanc Haznedanglu	2498	0	1	3	12.5
2	IM	Mert Erdogdu	2513	0	1	5	8.3
3	IM	Mustafa Yilmaz	2478	1	1	3	30
4	IM	Emre Can	2442	2	1	2	50
5	IM	Baris Esen	2513	1	1	3	30
6	FM	Burak Firat	2413	1	2	0	66.7

Match points 3

Game points 8.5

For further information: official site