The United States of America took the lead after three rounds of the 40th Chess Olympiad in Instanbul, thanks to a 3½-½ match victory against Venezuela.
Some of the higher rated seeds are now starting to meet, and France took an important win against Bulgaria thanks to a victory on top board by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave against Veselin Topalov.
Another hard fought clash saw England defeat Cuba 3-1 thanks to wins by Mickey Adams and Nigel Short. England will meet France in round 4 tomorrow.
Defending champions Ukraine earned an important win against Israel 2½-1½ thanks in no small part to to a great turnaround victory by Ruslan Ponomariov.
Top seeds Russia only just squeezed past Latvia 2½-1½ but need to improve if they are to climb the standings. Russia face China in round 4 in a hugely important match-up!
Armenia also only just defeated Spain 2½-1½ thanks to a top-board win by Lev Aronian against Paco Vallejo.
Games can be replayed at the live games page.
The top standings after three rounds:
| # |
Team |
W |
D |
L |
MP |
S-B |
BP |
| 1 |
USA |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
28.0 |
11.0 |
| 2 |
China |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
28.0 |
10.0 |
| 3 |
Germany |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
26.0 |
10.0 |
| 4 |
Azerbaijan |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.5 |
11.0 |
| 5 |
France |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.0 |
10.0 |
| 6 |
India |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.0 |
10.0 |
| 7 |
Hungary |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.0 |
8.5 |
| 8 |
Philippines |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
23.5 |
10.5 |
| 9 |
Ukraine |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
22.0 |
9.5 |
| 10 |
Russia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
22.0 |
9.0 |
| 11 |
England |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
22.0 |
9.0 |
| 12 |
Poland |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
20.0 |
11.0 |
| 13 |
Armenia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
18.0 |
9.5 |
| 14 |
Czech Republic |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
24.0 |
8.0 |
| 15 |
Canada |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
22.0 |
9.0 |
| 16 |
Argentina |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
22.0 |
8.0 |
| 17 |
Turkey |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
20.0 |
8.5 |
| 18 |
Bosnia & Herzegovina |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
20.0 |
8.5 |
| 19 |
Slovakia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
18.0 |
10.0 |
| 20 |
Mexico |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
17.5 |
8.5 |
| 21 |
Montenegro |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
17.5 |
8.0 |
| 22 |
Serbia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
16.5 |
9.0 |
| 23 |
Norway |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
15.0 |
9.0 |
| 24 |
Mongolia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
13.5 |
8.5 |
| 25 |
Croatia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
13.5 |
8.0 |
.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Veselin Topalov
.
Alexei Shirov drew with Vladimir Kramnik, but Latvia lost to Russia
.
Paco Vallejo was unable to avoid defeat against world #2 Lev Aronian in their game
.
Ruslan Ponomariov turned a likely loss into a vital win
.
India are the surprise leaders of the women's competition after 3 rounds. Ratings favourites China could only draw 2-2 in a tough match against Ukraine to stand in ninth place.
.
Women's World Champion Hou Yifan beat Kateryna Lahno, but China v Ukraine ended all-square
The top of the women's team standings after 3 rounds:
| # |
Team |
W |
D |
L |
MP |
S-B |
BP |
| 1 |
India |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
26.0 |
10.0 |
| 2 |
Russia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.5 |
11.0 |
| 3 |
Czech Republic |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.0 |
10.0 |
| 4 |
Slovakia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
24.0 |
8.5 |
| 5 |
Serbia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
22.0 |
11.5 |
| 6 |
Argentina |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
22.0 |
8.5 |
| 7 |
Poland |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
20.0 |
11.0 |
| 8 |
France |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
20.0 |
11.0 |
| 9 |
China |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
26.0 |
10.0 |
| 10 |
Georgia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
26.0 |
10.0 |
| 11 |
Germany |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
26.0 |
9.0 |
| 12 |
USA |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
24.0 |
9.5 |
| 13 |
Latvia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
24.0 |
9.5 |
| 14 |
Ukraine |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
24.0 |
9.0 |
| 15 |
Kazakhstan |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
22.0 |
10.0 |
Look out for live coverage on www.chess.com/tv (scroll down on that page to check the schedule for times).
Official website here. Full results and standings here. Photos from the official website.