World Team Championship, Round 6: Russia, U.S. Continue to Lead

It was a good day for the United States, and it was almost a great one. They dispatched Brazil 3-1, with Nakamura winning yet again (Akobian also won, and the other games were drawn), and India almost managed to hold Russia to a draw. It was only in the last game of the round that Vitiugov (now a 2700) beat Arun in a rooks and opposite-colored bishops ending, but that was good enough. Both teams have 10 team points (on the 2-1-0 scoring system), and are also tied on board points as well with 15½. Russia still leads on tiebreak because they beat the U.S. in their head-to-head match.

Azerbaijan and Israel drew with each other - both as teams and on all four boards - but moved up into a four-way tie for third. India had been ahead, but lost, as noted above. Armenia and all their heavy hitters lost too, to - wait for it - Greece. And not just barely, either, but 3-1! (A pity they play the U.S. tomorrow - if Russia would be thoughtful enough to lose their match, then perhaps Greece and the U.S. could draw? A guy can hope.)

Finally, Turkey got on the scoreboard by drawing their match with Egypt.

More detailed results and all the games here, while I've taken a closer look at two of the day's games here.