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40th Olympiad Set For Close Finish

40th Olympiad Set For Close Finish

SonofPearl
| 44 | Chess Event Coverage

Instanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 logo.jpgThe 40th Chess Olympiad is set for a close finish in the final round on Sunday, with three teams sharing the lead with 17 match points - China, Armenia and Russia.

In the penultimate round on Friday, China just managed to beat the USA 2½-1½ thanks to Ding Liren winning a theoretically drawn ending with Alexander Onischuk.

Russia only just managed to beat Argentina by the same 2½-1½ scoreline after Sergey Karjakin won his game with Diego Flores.

Armenia were slightly more convincing against the Netherlands, winning by 3-1 including a victory by Lev Aronian against Anish Giri on top board.

Ukraine put paid to Azerbaijani medal hopes with a 2½-1½ victory thanks to a win by Ruslan Ponomariov, while Hungary's 4-0 thumping of Denmark keeps their own hopes alive.

The crucial last round pairings in the fight for medals are: China v Ukraine, Armenia v Hungary, Russia v Germany, USA v Poland.

The final round starts 4 hours earlier at 11:00 local time (08:00 UTC).

The top standings after 10 rounds:

# Team W D L MP S-B BP
1 China 8 1 1 17 343.5 28.5
2 Armenia 8 1 1 17 336.5 26.5
3 Russia 8 1 1 17 321.5 25.5
4 Ukraine 8 0 2 16 292.5 26.5
5 Hungary 7 1 2 15 311.5 26.5
6 USA 6 3 1 15 307.0 27.5
7 Germany 6 3 1 15 282.0 25.0
8 Poland 7 1 2 15 259.0 26.0
9 Argentina 6 2 2 14 270.0 24.0
10 Uzbekistan 6 2 2 14 269.0 26.0
11 Philippines 6 2 2 14 268.0 25.0
12 Romania 7 0 3 14 257.5 26.0
13 Netherlands 7 0 3 14 252.0 26.0
14 Slovenia 6 2 2 14 249.5 22.5
15 Vietnam 5 4 1 14 246.5 26.0
16 Azerbaijan 5 3 2 13 289.0 26.5
17 Czech Republic 5 3 2 13 284.0 25.0
18 Cuba 6 1 3 13 281.0 28.0
19 Belarus 6 1 3 13 270.5 25.0
20 India 3 7 0 13 266.0 24.0

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China won their crucial encouter with the USA when Onischuk lost a drawn ending

2012 Olympiad China v USA rd10.JPG

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Nakamura tweeted: "The cruel and harsh reality of playing in a team chess event is that you are only as good as your teammates"

2012 Olympiad Hikaru Nakamura 2 rd10.jpg

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Russia had a narrow victory over Argentina...

2012 Olympiad Russia v Argentina rd10.JPG

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...thanks to Sergey Karjakin.

2012 Olympiad Sergey Karjakin rd10.jpg

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Armenia defeated the Netherlands 3-1

2012 Olympiad Armenia v Netherlands rd10.JPG

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Ruslan Ponomariov (centre) won for Ukraine

2012 Olympiad Ruslan Ponomariov rd10.jpg

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Hungary thrashed Denmark 4-0

2012 Olympiad Judit Polgar rd3.JPG

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In the women's competition China seemed to have the Gold medal all sewn up, but a shock draw against Kazakhstan allowed Russia to draw level on match points going into the final round.

The top women's standings:

# Team W D L MP S-B BP
1 China 7 3 0 17 357.0 29.0
2 Russia 7 3 0 17 348.0 29.0
3 Ukraine 6 4 0 16 325.0 27.0
4 France 7 1 2 15 294.0 27.5
5 Kazakhstan 6 3 1 15 281.0 27.0
6 Germany 7 1 2 15 277.5 26.5
7 India 7 1 2 15 277.5 25.5
8 Poland 6 2 2 14 282.0 26.0
9 Bulgaria 6 2 2 14 260.0 26.0
10 Armenia 7 0 3 14 259.5 24.0
11 Uzbekistan 6 2 2 14 259.0 24.0
12 Romania 7 0 3 14 253.5 26.0
13 Peru 6 2 2 14 229.5 24.5
14 Georgia 5 3 2 13 280.5 26.0
15 Israel 6 1 3 13 264.0 25.5
16 Iran 6 1 3 13 261.0 27.5
17 USA 5 3 2 13 260.5 26.5
18 Azerbaijan 6 1 3 13 258.5 24.5
19 Spain 6 1 3 13 251.0 24.0
20 Belarus 5 3 2 13 245.5 26.0

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China were held to a suprise draw by Kazakhstan

2012 Olympiad China women 3 rd10.JPG

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Chess.com will have live coverage of the final round at www.chess.com/tv.

Official website here.  Full results and standings here.  Photos from the official website. Games from the official website. All the games can be replayed at the live games page.

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