Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Armenia retains chess title at Dresden Olympiad

From Associated Press:

Armenia won its second straight gold medal at the Chess Olympiad Tuesday by defeating China 2.5-1.5 in the 11th and final round.

Armenia's only win came on board four where Tigran L. Petrosian beat Li Chao. Armenia finished the tournament alone in first place with 19 points. Two points are awarded for each match win and one for a tie.

Israel took silver with 18 points after beating the Netherlands 2.5-1.5.

The United States took bronze on a tiebreaker after upsetting second-seed Ukraine with a 3.5-0.5 drubbing, getting wins from Gata Kamsky against Vassily Ivanchuk on board one, Alexander Onischuk against Pavel Eljanov on board three, and Yuri Shulman against Zahar Efimenko on board four. Hikaru Nakamura of the United States drew Sergey Karjakin on board two.

The rout left the teams tied at 17 points but gave the medal to the U.S.

You can find all the games on the official Olympiad website. England faded after a good start and finished 15th. We used to do better.

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