The Olympiads are for many the most important event in the chess calendar and most leading players are happy to come along and represent their country. For the men, 24 of the World's top 25, and all but four of the 38 'elite' 2700+ players are here: Anand, Gashimov, Bacrot and Morozevich being the absentees.
It can at times be a great leveller with Carlsen (for the third time!) and Topalov both losing today!
For the women, the big name missing is World No.2 Humpy Koneru (also from India like Anand!) but veterans Pia Cramling and Maia Chiburdanidze didn't make the trip either. Otherwise 22 out of the top 25 are here.
Notably, three are playing in the open event: Judit Polgar, Viktorija Cmilyte and Zhu Chen.
Here are the rankings after ten rounds with Israel due to play Ukraine tomorrow.
Rank | Country | Match pts. | Tie-Break | Game pts. | Board 1 | Other notable scores |
1 | Ukraine | 18 | 322.5 | 29 | Ivanchuk 7.5/9 | Efimenko 8/10 |
2 | Russia 1 | 17 | 321.5 | 26 | Kramnik | Karjakin 7.5/9 |
3 | Israel | 16 | 295 | 27 | Gelfand | Sutovsky 7/8 |
4 | Poland | 15 | 288.5 | 27.5 | Wojtaszek | Miton 7/9 |
5 | Hungary | 15 | 286.5 | 24 | Leko | |
6 | Armenia | 15 | 286 | 25 | Aronian | |
7 | Spain | 15 | 285.5 | 26.5 | Shirov | |
8 | France | 15 | 267.5 | 23 | Vachier-Lagrave | |
9 | Russia 2 | 14 | 296.5 | 27 | Nepomniachtchi | |
10 | China | 14 | 292 | 26 | Wang Yue | Wang Hao 7.5/10 |
11 | Azerbaijan | 14 | 290.5 | 26 | Mamedyarov | |
12 | Italy | 14 | 274.5 | 24.5 | Caruana | |
13 | Russia 3 | 14 | 271.5 | 24 | Jakovenko | Rublevsky 7.5/10 |
14 | USA | 14 | 259.5 | 24.5 | Nakamura | |
15 | Cuba | 14 | 258 | 25 | Dominguez Perez | |
16 | Greece | 14 | 246.5 | 25 | Papaioannou | D.Mastrovasilis 7/9 |
The best percentage score of all is that of Bah Brema of Mali with 7/7!
Some strong performances have been achieved by Teterev (Belarus) 7/8, Grandelius (Sweden) Ivanisevic (Serbia) 7/9 and Movsesian (Slovakia) 7.5/10. Other players with impressive percentages from non-European teams are Bassem Amin (Egypt) 8/9, Sergio Barrientos (Colombia) 8/10, Munkhbat Chogdov (Korea) 8/10 and Algis Shukuraliev (Kyrgyzstan) 8/10.
Here are a selection of Olympiad-centred videos to watch, courtesy of Europe Echecs. Enjoy them!
Russia 1 demolished Bulgaria 4-0 and have won all their matches. The individual scores demonstrate their dominance as apart from the top two (who are mentioned in the table) Kosteniuk has 6/9, Galliamova 5/6 and Gunina 5.5/6.
In the final round Russia 2 take on Russia 1 whereas China meet the Ukraine. China will probably need to win to ensure that they obtain the silver medal because Georgia have a better tie-break.
Rank | Country | Match pts. | Tie-break | Game points. | Board 1 | Other notable scores |
1 | Russia 1 | 20 | 370 | 31.5 | Tatiana Kosintseva 6.5/9 | Nadezhda Kosintseva 8.5/10 |
2 | China | 16 | 315 | 28.5 | Hou Yifan 7.5/10 | Ju Wenjun 8.5/10 |
3 | Ukraine | 15 | 326.5 | 27.5 | Lahno | Gaponenko 7.5/8 |
4 | Georgia | 15 | 321 | 27 | Dzagnidze 7/9 | |
5 | Russia 2 | 15 | 287 | 25 | Pogonina | Bodnaruk 6.5/7 |
6 | Poland | 15 | 273 | 27.5 | Socko | Dworakowska 7.5/9 |
7 | Cuba | 14 | 291 | 27.5 | Ordaz Valdes | Marrero Lopez 7/8 |
8 | USA | 14 | 279 | 26 | Krush | |
9 | India | 14 | 272.5 | 23.5 | Harika | |
10 | Azerbaijan | 14 | 259.5 | 25.5 | Z.Mamedjarova 8/10 | |
11 | Bulgaria | 14 | 240 | 21.5 | Stefanova | |
12 | Vietnam | 14 | 221 | 24.5 | Hoang Thi Bao Tram | Pham Le Thao Nguyen 7.5/9 |
13 | Croatia | 14 | 216 | 22 | Golubenko |
As for board prizes, the Kosintseva sisters (after both winning in round 10) are naturally still leading on both boards one and two!
Other ladies who are doing well individually include Kubra Ozturk (Turkey) 8/10 Ilze Berzina (Latvia) 8/10 and Julia Novkovic (Austria) 7.5/9.
Starting times for round 11 (after tomorrow's rest day) on Sunday is as follows:
Khanty Mansiysk 11am
Moscow 9am
Paris, Madrid 7am
London 6am
New York 2am
Los Angeles 11pm (Saturday night)
For more information, and the possibility of downloading the games, go to the Official site
To follow the results Official site
Here are a selection of our recent photos: