There was a very interesting story written by Tim Crowther on Phiona Mutesi, a chess player from Uganda. ESPN The Magazine feature the 14-year old player from a small Ugandan town of Katwe. It is an intriguing story showing how she came to learn the game of chess and her amazement of traveling thousands for [...]
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Jamaican Women’s Olympians (L-R): Deborah Richards (board 1), Margoe Williams (board 4), Annesha Smith (board 5), Krishna Gray (board 2) and Ariel Barrett (board 3). Photo by Ian Wilkinson. Jamaica etched another fantastic chapter in its illustrious sporting history when the curtains came down on the 39th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, Russia on [...]
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Mosah Mokganedi, “We learnt valuable lessons – chess captain,” MmegiOnline, 8 October 2010. The captain of the men’s chess team, Kenneth Boikhutswane, has said despite failure to bring home a medal, they learnt valuable lessons at the just-ended Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Kenneth Boikhutswane, Botswana team captain. Photo by ugra-chess.com. Boikhutswane said it was [...]
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Stanley Chumfwa on the move against Libya’s Elbaruni Mohamed.Photo by ugra-chess.com. Zambia has had quite a bit to to celebrate in past years, but the men’s performance in the recently-ended 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk is the most recent of its accomplishments. Stanley Chumfwa led the charge of the 121st-ranked Zambian team to reach a [...]
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Vladimir Tukmakov hoists the championship trophy. Ruslain Ponomariov and Pavel Eljanov flank the Ukrainian captain. Photo by ugra-chess.com. Russia’s team poses with captain with Yury Dokhoian (right) after an 11/11 golden performance. Photo by ugra-chess.com. The 39th Chess Olympiad came a close on yesterday. As grand as the opening was, so was the closing. The [...]
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Top Boards (Open) The Ukraine wins gold! Russia 1 gets silver on strength of Karjakin. Israel 2-2 Ukraine Russia 1 2-2 Spain Poland 1½-2½ Hungary France 2-2 Armenia Russia 2 2½-1½ Greece China 3-1 Italy Medal Standings (Open) GOLD-Ukraine SILVER-Russia 1 BRONZE-Israel Round #11 Analysis: The Ukraine only needed a draw in round #11 to [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Ukraine 3½-½ France China 1½-2½ Russia 1 USA 1-3 Israel Spain 3-1 Georgia Serbia 1-3 Poland Czech Republic 1½-2½ Armenia Round #10 Analysis: While the women’s gold has been decided, the open section is anything but decided. The Ukraine (18 match points, 27 board points) still holds onto a one-point lead, but [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Azerbaijan 1½-2½ Ukraine Armenia 1½-2½ Russia 1 Georgia 1½-2½ France Israel 2½-1½ Hungary Cuba 1½-2½ China Bulgaria 1½-2½ USA Round #9 Analysis: We are winding down the Olympiad and the Ukraine is still holding onto its one-point lead. Russia 1 beat defending champion Armenia with Peter Svidler beating Gabriel Sargissian. Trying to [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Russia 1 2-2 Ukraine Hungary 2-2 Azerbaijan Poland 1½-2½ Armenia USA 2-2 China Georgia 2½-1½ Belarus France 2½-1½ Russia 2 Iran 1-3 Cuba Estonia 3-1 Russia 3 Israel 2-2 Netherlands Serbia 2½-1½ Slovakia Richard Conn, a dapper Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov on the floor during the FIDE Assembly. FIDE’s Nigel Freeman [...]
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Chess community, Today marks the highly-anticipated election for the Presidency of the world body of chess known as FIDE (pronounced fee-day). More than 150 countries (including 56 proxies) will cast their ballots to select the body’s leader for the next four years. During the 2006 Olymipad in Turin, Italy, Bessel Kok lost to the Ilyumzhinov [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Ukraine 2½-1½ Georgia Armenia 1½-2½ Azerbaijan Russia 2 1½-2½ Russia 1 USA 2-2 Poland Brazil 1-3 Hungary Russia 3 2-2 Iran China 4-0 Turkmenistan Belarus 3-1 England Netherlands 2-2 Cuba France 2½-1½ Spain GM Vassily Ivanchuk is on 6/6 and a stratospheric 3382 performance. Photo by ugra-chess.com. Round #7 Analysis: Things are [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Georgia 2-2 Armenia Ukraine 3-1 Hungary Russia 2 3-1 Netherlands Russia 1 2½-1½ Czech Republic Azerbaijan 3-1 India Vietnam 1½-2½ USA Poland 3-1 Estonia Russia 3 2-2 Greece Montenegro 1½-2½ China Cuba 3-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina Heated battles in Round #6. Photo by ugra-chess.com. Round #6 Analysis: With five rounds left in [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Armenia 2½-1½ Russia 2 Vietnam ½-3½ Georgia Hungary 2½-1½ Russia 1 Poland 2-2 Netherlands Bosnia & Herzegovina 1-3 Ukraine Azerbaijan 2½-1½ Sweden Czech Republic 4-0 Mexico China 2-2 Slovakia Italy 2-2 Cuba USA 3-1 Argentina Round #5 Analysis: Now at the first rest day the field is shaking up as there are [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Russia 2 3-1 India Hungary 2½-1½ China Armenia 2½-1½ Russia 3 Netherlands 3-1 Spain Russia 1 3-1 USA Explosive day in Khanty Mansiysk today. With top teams jockeying for position before the rest day, there were some questions that needed to be answered. Will Russia 2 continue their impeccable form? Would Armenia [...]
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Posted in Olympiad, Tournaments on Sep 23rd, 2010 5 Comments »
Women’s Grandmaster Yana Melnikova wrote an essay titled, “Carlsen, Topalov? Kramnik?” It dealt with the awarding of Olympiad medals. She endorses the awarding of medals on total performance rating (TPR) and admits that it limits the pool primarily to the top players such as Carlsen, Topalov and Kramnik. This is correct because performance ratings are [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Croatia 2-2 Ukraine Poland 2-2 Bosnia &Herzegovina Mexico 1½-2½ Georgia Peru ½-3½ Russia 2 USA 3-1 Chile Round #3 Analysis: Things are heating up as we enter a pivotal round. In Dresden, top teams started facing each other in round four and this tournament is no exception. We are about to meet [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Ukraine 4-0 Scotland Russia 2 3½-½ Venezuela Mongolia ½-3½ USA Israel 2-2 Indonesia Albania 0-4 Poland Round #2 of 2010 Chess Olympiad in session.Photo by ugra-chess.com Round #2 Analysis: The round brings a bit more parity, but there favorites are still expected to win. However, there were some notable upsets in the [...]
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Top Boards (Open) Russia 1 3½-½ Ireland Iraq 0-4 Ukraine China 3½-½ Kyrgyzstan IBCA 0-4 Russia 2 Hungary 4-0 Jordan Pregame Analysis: In the days of old it was not uncommon to have matches that were so lopsided, that the exercise seemed pointless. What is also interesting in the first round is noticing how top [...]
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Posted in Olympiad, Tournaments on Sep 20th, 2010 3 Comments »
The 39th Chess Olympiad officially opened this evening in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia in the Siberian region. The main site carried a videocast and featured what appeared to be a grand opening ceremony with elegant pageantry and splendid choreography. The ceremony was held in a hockey rink and the stands appeared to be filled with players and [...]
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Lekan Adeyemi was sitting in the Dubai International Airport when he received a Skype message from The Chess Drum’s Daaim Shabazz. At the time (21:30hrs in Dubai), the Nigerian team was residing in the airport during a 24-hour layover heading for Khanty-Mansiysk. However, his spirits were upbeat. “No problem. The most important thing is to [...]
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