Team USA Lead Olympiad After 3 Rounds
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 |
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Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Veselin Topalov
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Alexei Shirov drew with Vladimir Kramnik, but Latvia lost to Russia
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Paco Vallejo was unable to avoid defeat against world #2 Lev Aronian in their game
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Ruslan Ponomariov turned a likely loss into a vital win
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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.
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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.
