USA In Sole Lead At WTC
The US team defeated Greece in round 7 of the World Team Championship in Bursa, Turkey, and Russia drew with Armenia thereby leaving the US team in an unexpected lead with just two rounds to go.
The whole US team has done well, but Hikaru Nakamura is having an outstanding tournament. He rode his luck a little today after a strange choice of the Petroff Defence, but was tactically alert as always to take advantage when the opportunity presented itself.
A determined Hikaru Nakamura continues his hot streak (pic from the official site)
The hosts also managed their first match win by beating the strong Israeli team and so climbed off the bottom of the standings.
The results in round 7:
| RUSSIA | 2 - 2 | ARMENIA |
| Grischuk Alexander | ½ : ½ | Aronian Levon |
| Morozevich Alexander | 0 - 1 | Akopian Vladimir |
| Tomashevsky Evgeny | 1 - 0 | Sargissian Gabriel |
| Malakhov Vladimir | ½ : ½ | Pashikian Arman |
| EGYPT | 1½ - 2½ | INDIA |
| Adly Ahmed | ½ : ½ | Sasikiran Krishnan |
| Amin Bassem | ½ : ½ | Harikrishna P |
| Abdel Razik Khaled | 0 - 1 | Geetha Narayanan Gopal |
| Sarwat Walaa | ½ : ½ | Adhiban B |
| ISRAEL | 1½ - 2½ | TURKEY |
| Smirin Ilia | 1 - 0 | Erdogdu Mert |
| Sutovsky Emil | 0 - 1 | Yilmaz Mustafa |
| Postny Evgeny | ½ : ½ | Can Emre |
| Rodshtein Maxim | 0 - 1 | Esen Baris |
| BRAZIL | ½ - 3½ | AZERBAIJAN |
| Vescovi Giovanni | 0 - 1 | Radjabov Teimour |
| Fier Alexandr | ½ : ½ | Guseinov Gadir |
| Milos Gilberto | 0 - 1 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
| Diamant Andre | 0 - 1 | Mamedov Rauf |
| GREECE | 1½ - 2½ | USA |
| Kotronias Vasilios | 0 - 1 | Nakamura Hikaru |
| Papaioannou Ioannis | ½ : ½ | Onischuk Alexander |
| Banikas Hristos | ½ : ½ | Shulman Yuri |
| Halkias Stelios | ½ : ½ | Akobian Varuzhan |
The standings after round 7:
| Team | P | W | D | L | MP | ||
| 1 |
USA | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 18 |
| 2 |
RUSSIA | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 17½ |
| 3 |
AZERBAIJAN | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 17 |
| 4 |
INDIA | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 15 |
| 5 |
ARMENIA | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
| 6 |
ISRAEL | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14½ |
| 7 |
GREECE | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 14½ |
| 8 |
EGYPT | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 10½ |
| 9 |
TURKEY | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 8½ |
| 10 |
BRAZIL | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 9½ |
