Istanbul Chess Olympiad R4: Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Armenia in Joint Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Russia - in joint lead with Ukraine, Hungary and Armenia after four rounds

The fourth round at the Istanbul World Chess Olympiad had its shares of spills and thrills. The top table saw a loss and win plus two draws. That's commendable as the Indians held the much-higher rated USA to a team draw. 

Just before the time control India's top board Krishnan Sasikiran got caught in a mating net against Hikaru Nakamura, but Pentala Harikrishna immediately struck back on the second board by defeating Gata Kamsky. The other two games were drawn. 

Meanwhile, Russia beat down China with a final score of 3-1. Kramnik and Karjakin drew with Wang Hao and Bu Xianzhi, but Grischuk and Jakovenko beat Wang Yue and Li Chao. Azerbaijan took a 1,5-0,5 lead against Germany before the time control, but the Germans were pressing hard with white in the remaining two games. Eltaj Safarli succeeded in securing the draw, but Gadir Guseinov went down in an opposite-coloured Bishops endgame. The official commentator Evgeniy Miroshnichenko believes that Guseinov could have held the draw with precise play.


France and England split the points, while Armenia achieved a narrow victory against The Philippines. Ukraine caught up after the swift 3-1 victory against Poland. Vassily Ivanchuk won his first game in the Olympiad, while Ruslan Ponomariov beat Mateusz Bartel to avenge the loss from the recent Dortmund super-tournament.

Meanwhile, in the women's section Georgian beat Cuba 4-0, while China beat Germany 3-1. France beat Argentina and Russia beat the Czech Republic. Poland and Slovakia drew. So did US and Slovenia. The lower-rated Slovenia held India to a good draw. 

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