39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[benedgell]

Yeah, the e6 pawn will fall shortly, and then game over.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I should think so, and we certainly can't complain about 2-2. I would suspect that a nasty surprise may still await us on S-B, given how badly Norway have done, but my track record in guessing S-B is not good

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Will Sarah be able to win her game for the women? She only needs to draw to win the match, and is an exchange up, so looks good.

[Keith Arkell]

Very nice game by David.

Sarah should have a lot of work still to do to win that,but I think she should get there in the end...

The guy who beat Short - Laznicka - I remember playing him a few years back in the Euro Club Cup and feeling how strong he is.So many incredibly strong players around these days who many have hardly heard of!

Indeed John a very nice game by Saldago Lopez to rip apart Svidler

[Richard Bates]

Will Sarah be able to win her game for the women? She only needs to draw to win the match, and is an exchange up, so looks good.

She's got mate in 3, so hope so.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Will Sarah be able to win her game for the women? She only needs to draw to win the match, and is an exchange up, so looks good.

She's got mate in 3, so hope so.

My comment was referring to the position at move 61, of course.

Great match from the women.

[Keith Arkell]

Will Sarah be able to win her game for the women? She only needs to draw to win the match, and is an exchange up, so looks good.

She's got mate in 3, so hope so.

Lol,well that was quite abrupt I wouldn't have liked trying to beat that Q+ N on g4 combination v the clumsy Rook on b7,but anyways tremendous overall performance from Sarah.

[Michael Jones]

However, it's possible that Grandelius' opponent may be forced to try to win in order to save the match (which would give Grandelius chances). Having said that, Stupak is the one with any genuine chances in that endgame. White's got very bad pawns and his king poorly placed.

Stupak has won, although since he was 37 behind Jones at the start of the round that may not be enough to overtake him. My guess for the likely order on board 5 now would be Bartel, Feller, Babula, Jones, Stupak, Grandelius, but apart from Bartel almost certainly having won it, that is only really a guess. As for the other board prizes:

1 - Ivanchuk was 54 ahead of Aronian before this round, so I'm not sure whether the fact that he drew (vs Gelfand) and Aronian won (vs Vachier-Lagrave) will be enough for Aronian to overtake him.

2 - Sutovsky had it more or less sewn up with a 150+ point lead before the start of the round which he'd probably have kept even if he lost and Grischuk won; as it was they both drew.

3 - Teterev had a big lead and retained it by not playing.

4 - Karjakin had almost as big a lead, and retained it since he and Efimenko both drew.

[Ola Winfridsson]

I wish I had been there, in K-M to watch the match Cuba-USA. All games extremely hard-fough and interesting.

[John Saunders]

I see that the Olympiad has had quite an effect on the live ratings: Carlsen is down to 2810 (lost 15.3), Anand 2800 (not playing), Aronian 2789+ (after Rd 10, and a few more to add today) and Topalov down to fourth place with 2785 (having lost 17.5). His old enemy Kramnik will be breathing down his neck, despite going down to 2775, as he will gain a few more points today. Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi all gain a significant number of points (the latter very bad news for chess journalists who get sick of trying to write his name correctly).

[Ola Winfridsson]

Very nice game by David.

Sarah should have a lot of work still to do to win that,but I think she should get there in the end...

The guy who beat Short - Laznicka - I remember playing him a few years back in the Euro Club Cup and feeling how strong he is.So many incredibly strong players around these days who many have hardly heard of!

Indeed John a very nice game by Saldago Lopez to rip apart Svidler

Yes, I think this game is a great example of what a terrific fighter David is. However, having followed him here, in the U20 World Championhips last year and the London Chess Classic last December, it seems to me that he often gets into trouble in the opening (or gets relatively little out of this phase). But he's of course still young and developing.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I see chess results.com have the final ranking lists:

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000

Joint 20th for England and 24th on tiebreak (4th of 8 in the tiebreak). Even if we had won the last match, wouldn't have finished higher than 11th. Overall, not to seeding, but I enjoyed lots of the games from England players. Top four were Ukraine, Russia 1, Israel (breaking up the party of the top six seeds) and Hungary. Spain's 8th place was also good, and Belarus finished 14th after being seeded 35th!

The women's event finished Russia 1, China, Georgia. High finishers among the lower seeds were Cuba, Azerbaijan and Greece. England finished joint 15th, but 21st on tiebreak (7th out of 9 in the tiebreak), which is way above their seeding of 39th!

Haven't looked at the board prizes yet.

[Leonard Barden]

Sarah Hegarty's 7.5/9 was the best points total of any Board 5 in the women's Olympiad. A splendid performance, and if the official prizes don't award her anything for that then the ECF should do so. Kanwal Bhatia's 6.5/9 was also outstanding, and the women's team and its captain Andrew Greet deserve our congratulations for their excellent 21st place.

[Ola Winfridsson]

Sarah Hegarty's 7.5/9 was the best points total of any Board 5 in the women's Olympiad. A splendid performance, and if the official prizes don't award her anything for that then the ECF should do so. Kanwal Bhatia's 6.5/9 was also outstanding, and the women's team and its captain Andrew Greet deserve our congratulations for their excellent 21st place.

They certainly do!

Looking at the Open section, it's interesting to note how important a strong finish is. Denmark finished in 19th place, having won five of their last six matches.

[Jonathan Rogers]

In the pre-Olympiad thread, I noted how few female teams had female captains, whereupon Max pointed out

"The Georgian captain, Nino Gurieli, is an IM/WGM, inactive but still rated 2329, while the Chinese captain, Xu Yuhua, definitely disproves your assertion - she's the Chinese number 6, a GM/WGM, and rated 2475, with a peak rating of 2517 and a former Women's World Champion (2006-8)!"

I then switched tack and said that I would follow the fortunes of the Chinese and Georgian teams with great interest ...

... and they finished second and third. Discuss?