Tromso Olympics, Round 9: China, France Lead
Yesterday wasn't just about the FIDE election; there was a round played, too. In the open section most of the top matches were drawn (e.g. China-Ukraine, Azerbaijan-Romania(!), Belarus-Netherlands, Argentina-India, USA-Germany, Armenia-Serbia(!) and Norway 1st-Turkey(!), to name a few). As that group included the leading team - China - that offered an opportunity for four of the five teams on their tail to catch them. (Ukraine was the fifth.) Azerbaijan and Romania drew their match, as noted above, but that left an opportunity for the winner of the match between France and the Czech Republic. As it turned out, the French won 2.5-1.5, and so they're now tied for first with two rounds to go. Five teams are right behind them, a group that includes the other two high-profile match winners on the day: Hungary (which beat Israel 3-1) and Bulgaria (2.5-1.5 winners over Cuba).
On the individual level I'll note three results. First, Magnus Carlsen had White against Dragan Solak, but was getting his head handed to him until Solak played the awful 32...a3?? in time trouble. That only served to shield Carlsen's vulnerable king; had he played 32...Rxd4! instead he would have remained on his way to a beautiful and shocking upset. Having escaped peril in that game, Carlsen remains in the running for an individual gold medal for board 1, along with Veselin Topalov, who took another huge scalp yesterday in beating Lenier Dominguez. Finally, on a lower board, young American GM Sam Shankland was held to his first draw yesterday by Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Shankland has 7.5/8 and looks likely to win the gold medal for board 5.
In the women's section Russia kept their two-point lead over China with a narrow win over Armenia. Kateryna Lagno lost to Elina Danielian, but the Russians won on boards 2 and 4 to assure themselves of at least a drawn match. That would have been the result, too, had Armenia's board 3 converted her huge advantage, but she let the Russian slip out with a draw. As for the Chinese, they crushed the French 3.5-.5 to keep their gold medal hopes alive. Russia is playing Ukraine this round, and as the Ukranian team is both very strong and highly motivated, some drama remains. (At least I assume they're highly motivated. If they're not feeling driven both by political factors and to punish Lagno for defecting from their team, someone should check them for a pulse or at least for major depression.)
More information and the games can be downloaded here.
Reader Comments (1)
Small objection: Topalov is and was a world top player, he can beat anyone, so "scalping"? Really?
[DM: I didn't mean to portray it as an upset or a "miracle", but only to say that beating Dominguez is a significant accomplishment.]