Armenia Nearly Home In Ningbo
Armenia's lead was cut to two match points in the penultimate round of the World Team Championships in Ningbo, but they are still favourites to take the title.
Armenia drew their match with fierce local rivals Azerbaijan, leaving only China and Ukraine within striking distance.
China beat India 3-1 and Ukraine beat the USA 2½-1½ to close on the leaders.
Ukraine face Armenia in the final round, but need a 4-0 whitewash to overtake them. However, should Armenia lose to Ukraine by a lesser margin, China could catch them if they can beat Hungary.
Elsewhere, Russia have no chance of the gold medal, but they posted the first 4-0 scoreline of the event against the Israeli team.
Lastly, Egypt's suffering continued as they lost 3-1 to Hungary.
The full results in round eight:
| Russia | 4-0 | Israel | ||
| Grischuk Alexander | 2746 | 1 - 0 | Roiz Michael | 2669 |
| Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2711 | 1 - 0 | Smirin Ilya | 2676 |
| Svidler Peter | 2739 | 1 - 0 | Postny Evgeny | 2618 |
| Vitiugov Nikita | 2733 | 1 - 0 | Nabaty Tamir | 2584 |
| USA | 1½-2½ | Ukraine | ||
| Kamsky Gata | 2741 | ½ - ½ | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2768 |
| Onischuk Alexander | 2675 | ½ - ½ | Efimenko Zahar | 2706 |
| Seirawan Yasser | 2635 | ½ - ½ | Moiseenko Alexander | 2715 |
| Hess Robert | 2609 | 0 - 1 | Areshchenko Alexander | 2682 |
| Armenia | 2-2 | Azerbaijan | ||
| Aronian Levon | 2805 | ½ - ½ | Radjabov Teimur | 2744 |
| Movsesian Sergei | 2700 | ½ - ½ | Gashimov Vugar | 2760 |
| Akopian Vladimir | 2667 | 1 - 0 | Mamedov Rauf | 2679 |
| Sargissian Gabriel | 2663 | 0 - 1 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2765 |
| Egypt | 1-3 | Hungary | ||
| Amin Bassem | 2609 | ½ - ½ | Leko Peter | 2717 |
| El Gindy Essam | 2510 | 0 - 1 | Almasi Zoltan | 2726 |
| Shoker Samy | 2475 | 0 - 1 | Polgar Judit | 2699 |
| Ezat Mohamed | 2430 | ½ - ½ | Erdos Viktor | 2613 |
| China | 3-1 | India | ||
| Wang Hao | 2718 | 1 - 0 | Harikrishna Pentala | 2669 |
| Wang Yue | 2709 | 1 - 0 | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2681 |
| Li Chao B | 2669 | ½ - ½ | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2627 |
| Ding Liren | 2654 | ½ - ½ | Negi Parimarjan | 2642 |
FIDE are covering the championships here, and a live relay of the games (starting at 15:00 local time in Ningbo) can be found at the official Chinese site here. Games remain available for replay at the live link until the start of the next round.
The teams score 2 points for a match win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. The first tie-break is board points scored.
The standings after eight rounds:
| 1 | Armenia | * | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 3½ | 3½ | 13 | 20.5 | |
| 2 | China | 1½ | * | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ | 2 | 3 | 1½ | 3½ | 11 | 20.0 | |
| 3 | Ukraine | 1½ | * | 2 | 1½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 11 | 17.5 | |
| 4 | Russia | 2 | 1½ | 2 | * | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 19.5 | |
| 5 | Hungary | 1½ | 2½ | 1 | * | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 3½ | 3 | 10 | 18.0 | |
| 6 | USA | 2 | ½ | 1½ | 1 | 2 | * | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 8 | 16.0 | |
| 7 | Azerbaijan | 2 | 2 | 1½ | 3 | 1½ | 1½ | * | 3 | 2 | 7 | 16.5 | |
| 8 | India | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 1 | * | 2½ | 2½ | 5 | 13.0 | |
| 9 | Israel | ½ | 2½ | 1½ | 0 | ½ | 2 | 1½ | * | 3 | 5 | 11.5 | |
| 10 | Egypt | ½ | ½ | 1½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | 1 | * | 0 | 7.5 |
A tense encounter between bitter rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan ended all square
China beat India to keep their gold medal hopes alive
Alexander Areshchenko's win means Ukraine still have a mathematical chance of Gold
Judit Polgar won again today. Hungary's final match against China could be crucial for the hosts.
Pictures from the FIDE website. More here.
