Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 10: Indian Men Draw with Cuba, Women Beat Israel; Abhijeet, Tania in with Chance to Win Board Prize!

Tania Sachdev-Going for 
gold medal Board prize for 
India! Photo: David Llada

The tenth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw the Indian men drawing with Cuba and the Indian women beating Israel 3.5-0.5. Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Parimajan Negi beat Yuniesky Quezada Perez and Yusnel Bacallao Alonso on the third and fourth boards. Both Sasikiran and Harikrishna lost.  Abhijeet Gupta and Tania Sachdev are in with a chance for a board prize! Saturday is a rest day and the final round will be played on Sunday.  Here are the tenth-round results: 

Top Board Harika Dronavalli. Photo: David Llada 

Bo.	13	India (IND)	Rtg	-	15	Cuba (CUB)	Rtg	2 : 2
9.1	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	-	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2725	0 - 1
9.2	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	-	GM	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	2711	0 - 1
9.3	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	-	GM	Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	2626	1 - 0
9.4	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2637	-	IM	Bacallao Alonso, Yusnel	2583	1 - 0

Bo.	6	India (IND)	Rtg	-	25	Israel (ISR)	Rtg	3½: ½
5.1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	-	WIM	Porat, Maya	2295	1 - 0
5.2	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	-	WIM	Efroimski, Marsel	2174	1 - 0
5.3	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	-	IM	Klinova, Masha	2317	½ - ½
5.4	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	-	WFM	Shvayger, Yuliya	2202	1 - 0

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad R3 - Both Indian Teams Continue Winning Spree

GM P Harikrishana
flying the Indian flag high

Indian teams at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 continued with a steady performance winning the third round in both the open and women's section. GMs P Harikrihsna and Abhijeet Gupta beat former world chess championship candidate Alexander Beliavsky and Malej Sebenik for a 3-1 victory. The other two games were draw. Tania Sachdev scored an important win for India over Lilit Galojan even as other three boards were draw. Both the teams play the fourth round on the top board. Eight more rounds have to be played and the tough part begins now.

Indian pairings for Round 4 are as follows:

United States Of America - India 
1.1 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2778 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707
1.2 GM Kamsky, Gata 2746 - GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685
1.3 GM Onishuk, Alexander 2666 - GM Negi, Parimarjan 2664
1.4 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 2617 - GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637

India - Serbia 
1.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503 - IM Bojkovic, Natasa 2392
1.2 IM Karavade, Eesha S 2371 - WGM Manakova, Maria 2304
1.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379 - WIM Rakic, Marija 2300
1.4 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann 2396 - WGM Benderac, Ana 2266

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad: First Round Today Watch Live from 5.30 PM

A record-breaking 158 countries will start off with the first round at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad in Turkey today at 15:00 local time (India time 5.30 pm). You can watch live at the official website. The live video feed is at this link. The drawing of colours took place during the opening ceremony at the WOW Convention center in Istanbul. The ceremony began with the national anthem of Turkey, followed by a tribute to chess players in history, traditional dances and programmes. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Youth and Sports Suat Kilic, and the Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici greeted the participants. 

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Indian Men Finish 35th, Women 4th! Abhijeet Gupta Wins Individual Silver; Tania Sachdev Wins Individual Bronze

Armenia is World Chess Olympiad Champions 2012

Photos: David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan

The last round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul was as exciting as it could get with the results being decided with tiebreaks after all the final games were played! Indian men finished with the 35th place below their seeding of ninth. Indian women finished with the fourth place above their seeding of sixth. National Champion Abhijeet Gupta picked up an individual Silver Medal as board prize for the fourth board. Tania Sachdev picked up an individual bronze medal as board prize for the third board.

Indian women on their way to beating France in the last round and finishing fourth at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

The Final round saw India lose to Azerbaijan with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Pentala Harikrishna. All other boards were draw. Indian women beat France in an exciting match.

Bo.	7	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	-	13	India (IND)	Rtg	2½:1½
9.1	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	2620	-	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	½ - ½
9.2	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2729	-	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	1 - 0
9.3	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2634	-	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	½ - ½
9.4	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	2613	-	GM	Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	2550	½ - ½

Bo.	14	France (FRA)	Rtg	-	6	India (IND)	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	IM	Skripchenko, Almira	2442	-	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	0 - 1
4.2	IM	Milliet, Sophie	2411	-	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	½ - ½
4.3	WGM	Maisuradze, Nino	2284	-	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	1 - 0
4.4	WIM	Bollengier, Andreea	2253	-	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	0 - 1

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad R9: Russia Loses to USA; Indian Men Draw with Georgia, Women Lose to Russia

India's top board -
the very strong K Sasikiran
Photo: David Llada

Round 9 was played at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul on Thursday. The Indian team did their best to draw with Georgia in the open section. The Indian women's team did their best to hold up against Russia, but lost because of the very high rating of their opponents. Two more rounds are to be played. Though, the Indian men are out of medal contention, the Indian women have an easy tenth round against Israel and could be well on the winning dias after Round 11.

Results Round 9 @ 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul
Georgia (GEO)-India (IND) 2 : 2
9.1 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2659-GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Gagunashvili, Merab 2578-GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685 ½ - ½
9.3 GM Sanikidze, Tornike 2585-GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637 0 - 1
9.4 GM Pantsulaia, Levan 2575-GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan 2550 1 - 0

India-Russia 1 : 3
2.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503-GM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2530 ½ - ½
2.2 IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay 2371-IM Gunina, Valentina 2507 0 - 1
2.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379-GM Kosintseva, Nadezhda 2524 ½ - ½
2.4 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan 2271-GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2489 0 - 1

Standings after Round 9 have India in the nineteenth place in the open section and twelfth place in the women's section. Here are the pairings for Round 10 which you can watch live from India time 5.30 pm at the official website. A live video feed is available at this link.

Top board for Indian women - the talented Harika Dronavalli Photo: Arman Karakhanyan

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 8: Indian Men Draw with Serbia, Women Beat Vietnam

Russia beat Ukraine in Round 8

The eighth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw India draw with Serbia. The board results included GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2707) losing to GM Ivanisevic, Ivan (2645), GM Harikrishna, Pentala (2685) drawing with GM Perunovic, Milos (2614), GM Negi, Parimarjan (2664) drawing with GM Sedlak, Nikola (2549) and GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan (2550) beat GM Popovic, Dusan (2579).

In the women's section, the Indian team beat Vietnam nicely with the board results being WGM Le Thao Nguyen, Pham (2393) drawing with GM Dronavalli, Harika (2503), WIM Thi Mai Hung, Nguyen (2212) beating IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay (2371), WIM Kieu Thien Kim, Le (2226) losing to IM Sachdev, Tania (2379) and WIM Bich Ngoc, Pham (2172) losing to WGM Gomes, Mary Ann (2396).

The Philippines beat England

Three more rounds are to be played. Indian men play Georgia and women take on Russia on Thursday.
Georgia (GEO)-India (IND)
9.1 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2659 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707
9.2 GM Gagunashvili, Merab 2578 - GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685
9.3 GM Sanikidze, Tornike 2585 - GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637
9.4 GM Pantsulaia, Levan 2575 - GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan 2550
India (IND)-Russia (RUS)

2.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503 - GM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2530

2.2 IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay 2371 - IM Gunina, Valentina 2507

2.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379 - GM Kosintseva, Nadezhda 2524

2.4 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan 2271 - GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2489

Rank after eight rounds in Open section @ Istanbul Chess Olympiad
Russia has a cool 15 points. China, Armenia, USA, Germany and the Philippines are right behind with 13 points each. Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Netherlands, France, Israel, Argentina and Poland are in third place with 12 points each. In joint fourth place are (hold your breath) Hungary, India, Georgia, England, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Serbia, Belarus, FYROM, Vietnam, Italy, Slovenia, Denmark, Brazil and Austria! (in that order of tiebreaks.) That puts India in a current standing of 15th place.

Rank after eight rounds in Women's section @ Istanbul Chess Olympiad
Among the women, China is leading with 14 points. In joint second place are Russia, France, India and Uzbekistan. According to tiebreak points, India is right there in for a medal contention at fourth place! In joint third place are Ukraine, USA, Poland, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

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