Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand banked on his vast reservoir of experience in rapid chess to win the Mikhail Tal Memorial Blitz tournament in Moscow with a comprehensive two-point margin over his nearest rival Levon Aronian of Armenia. Anand scored a whopping 23 points out of a possible 34 and won 11 out of 17 mini-matches to win the strongest Blitz tournament in the history of the game.

The Indian ace, known to have mastered the art of rapid chess, had recently suffered a setback in the finals of the Corsica Masters chess tournament where he lost the final against Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan. However, this was an excellent turnaround by Anand.

World Cup winner Aronian, who scored 21 points including a 1-1 draw with Anand, finished second. The third place was shared by Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Peter Svidler of Russia, who scored 20.5 points each.

The event was played on a double round robin basis between 18 players over two days. The event had 11 players above 2700 ELO rating and none below the 2650 mark.

Anand showed clinical approach in crushing his opponents, barring one against Jobava Baadur of Georgia, who came with a 1.50.5 margin. Baddur was the only one who lost both his games against Anand.

Playing solidly in the first half of the event, Anand waited till the 15th round to wrest the lead from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and thereafter the Indian did not look back.

For the records, Anand lost two, won 14 and drew 18 games to win the event. Final standings:
1. Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 23);
2. Levon Aronian (Arm, 21);
3-4. Teimour Radjabov (Aze), Peter Svidler (Rus) 20.5 each;
5. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 19.5);
6-8. Alexander Morozevich (Rus),
Alexander Grischuk (Rus), Boris Gelfand (Isr) 18 each;
9-10. Magnus Carlsen (Nor), Anatoly Karpov (Rus) 17.5 each;
11-13. Sergey Karjakin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze), Judit Polgar (Hun) 17 each;
14. Peter Leko (Hun, 16.5);
15.Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 15.5);
16. Viktor Bologan (Mda, 10.5);
17. Artyom Timofeev (Rus, 10);
18. Jobava Baadur (Geo, 9).

by Nandkumar Kamat

THE victory of Ivana Furtado in World under eight chess championship should interest child psychologists, neuroscientists and mathematical philosophers. She might also be having outstanding mathematical, programming and computing capabilities. Thanks to her involved and caring parents and the timely and expert coaching by the trainers she got moulded into the world’s first under eight junior chess champion. But she has not so far got the press coverage, which a lawn tennis star Sania Mirza once got. There is always discrimination between games involving muscles and mind.

Chess is a perfect brain game. It converges mind and consciousness on a single platform-the chessboard.

In creating Chess champions like Ivana both nature and nurture, genes and training are involved. Chess was probably discovered by the ancient Vedic mathematicians to understand the concept of infinity. There are mind boggling permutations and combinations. The Arabs popularised it in the middle east as ‘Shataranj’ from where it reached all over the world. The rules of Chess are simple but the winning strategies are complex. Computers like the “deep blue” built on chess programming theories have come very close to defining winning strategies against the world chess champions. This proves that the moves of chess have to be coded in our genes. There are relatively scanty attempts to probe into the minds of the champion chess players - Fischer, Spasky, Karpov, Kasparov and Vishwanathan Anand.

There is no direct connection between a person’s Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and chess playing skills. Scholars of maths or expert computer programmers do not necessarily turn out to be chess champions. What must be going on in the mind of Ivana Furtado at such a tender age when she was pitted against players of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Peru, Ukraine and from her own country? Her trainers feel that it is her unique concentration skill, the prolonged attention span - which is the hallmark of her success. But how the brain functions when a child concentrates on a challenging task? It is an established fact that children can acquire most of their intelligence up to the age of 12. Then they have to struggle. It is difficult to make a child smarter after 12. Ivana picked up Chess at four and half years - perhaps the right age when neurons – the cellular microcomputers in the brain are in their final burst of building a network of connections.

Chess is not merely a brain game. It is also a game of neurons against neurons. Obviously neurons with superior dendritic connections and complex networks would win. For building a superior neuronal network there are three requirements - a happy childhood, the right brain stimulating stimuli and a genetic endowment of excellent genes. A happy childhood depends on loving, caring and understanding parents. Children feel emotionally secure when their parents are around. The personal presence of Ivana’s parents in Georgia was a clinching factor in raising her confidence level. Brain stimulation in childhood depends on exposure to a variety of sound, speech, colours, symbols, patterns, textures, tastes - or rather exposure to material, cultural and natural diversity. Children pick up all types of stimuli to complete in a short duration the evolutionary programming of millions of years of human cognitive development. Deprivation of these stimuli makes the children mentally stunted. The neurobiochemical potential of neurons is not realised in such children. It is not known whether human mathematical and computing abilities are encoded by the genes, yet to be identified. But with a poor package of genes it is not possible to be a chess champion. Consciousness is an emergent property of the architecture of the brain. This architecture is a function of an intricate synaptic interconnections of billions of neurons.

A chess player uses the focused consciousness as a switch to turn on this neuronal supercomputer to analyse the opponent’s moves, compute the pros and cons of millions of possible moves in real time and prepare a strategy to win the game. Chess champions like Ivana have powerful neuronal resources. As she would continue to focus on her game without losing the momentum, the world would probably see the making of a young Chess genius.

There is a lesson for parents dreaming to make their children follow her footsteps. Normal schooling and education is one part of life. It does not make anyone intelligent. The problem solving, decision making, logistical skills are more important. Unfortunately such skills are rarely taught in our education system from pre-primary to university level. We are turning out a generation of dumb degree holders. To this crowd World Chess champion Ivana offers a beautiful example. Success is possible with focus and concentration, attention and dedication. Chess is not a game for the faint hearted or lethargic persons. There is a complex neurochemistry behind it. All of us are born with billions of neurons. Till death no human being has been able to use even one per cent of its capacity. In fact at young age the more you train the neurons more dendritic junctions are formed.

Within just three years of picking up the game and with relatively little exposure to competition - Ivana performed a feat - which shows how best she could utilise her neuronal resources. A focused person refuses to be narcissistic. If Ivana speaks less and is not overwhelmed by her achievement it shows how best she has trained her mind - to be stoic. This is exactly the type of temperament, which makes the world champions. It is a high time that we understand Chess as a game of mental discipline based on a complex neurochemistry. The players are merely physical vehicles for the neuronal strategies.

The Buddhist philosophers have not yet commented on the Zen of chess playing. The neuroscientists have not delved deeper into the minds and the brain chemistry of the chess players. There may certain secrets waiting for them. Unfolding of these may give science some useful clues about developing artificial intelligence (AI).

Ivana Furtado would be a showpiece for Goan society for some time but let us not forget that she represents a new generation in Information age with superior neuronal resources. India is known to be a country where coals are polished and diamonds lose their shine. May Ivana go on to conquer many more chess championship crowns, without falling into the traps of promotional industry.

Who is the best chess player of all time? Entire books have been devoted to the subject, but all have one major flaw: they are mainly subjective. Necessarily so, since there is no direct way of comparing Morphy to Fischer, Lasker to Kasparov. Or is there? Two scientists from Slovenia try it with computers and statistics. The results might surprise you.

Who was The Strongest Chess Player of All Time?

Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik defeated GM Veselin Topalov 2.5-1.5 in the four-game tiebreak after a tough twelve-game match, which ended 6-6. Kramnik demonstrated his excellent nervous system by grinding down his opponent in two very well-played endings in game two and four.

With this victory in the tie-break there will be no discussion at all regarding the famous fifth game, which everyone remembers was won by Topalov after Kramnik forfeited in protest to the decision of the Appeals Committee to close his bathroom, following Topalov’s protest.

Although maybe not playing the best chess, Kramnik has demonstrated once again his excellent match game technique, by winning three classical games (Topalov only won two on-the-board games) in addition to his first class approach to the tie-break games, a series of four 25 minute games with a ten-second increment.

After defeating Garry Kasparov in 2000 and Peter Leko in 2004, Kramnik will definitely go into the history books as one of the few champions who have defended the WC title twice in a row successfully, whereas this match in Elista will also be sorrowfully remembered as the “Toilet and Computers” match.

Two other items will still have to be discussed. Will Vladimir defend his title next year in the Mexico City 2007 championship? Topalov will not play now that he has lost. Also, we shall see if Kramnik will take over the challenge that Radjabov had put forward to Topalov before this match, with a 1-milion euro prize fund.

A World Chess Championship game between Russia's Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria was called off on Saturday pending talks to overcome the crisis over cheating allegations against the Russian.

Kramnik, who was leading 3-1, was deemed to have forfeited the fifth game after not showing up for the match on Friday. Protesting against the decision, the Russian argued that the match should resume from game five, while Topalov insisted he was now one point behind and it was game six that should to be played.

World Chess championships have quite often been marred by controversies, tantrums and wild accusations. This time the reunification match, which finally got underway last week after 13 years, went through a serious crisis after FIDE champion Veselin Topalov indirectly accused Classical champion Vladimir Kramnik of cheating and objected to his numerous visits to the bathroom. After negotiations the championship continued with Kramnik forfeiting one game.

The game which follows is the second one in the 12-game series and ironically changes fortunes after blunders by both players.

Incidentally, this is the game where Kramnik first blundered after a bathroom visit. Incredibly, Topalov missed a two-move winning continuation and ultimately and thereafter ended up losing the game.

White: Veselin Topalov (2813) – Black: Vladimir Kramnik (2743). World chess championship, Elista 2006, Slav Defence

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6

The Slav Defence

3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3

On previous occasions Kramnik had opted for 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4 Bxe4 while playing with White but here Topalov opts for a different line

6. ..e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.e4 0-0

If 10...Bxc3 11.bxc3 Nxe4 12.Ba3 and Black has to castle on the queen side right into the attack

11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3

Black has a solid position, while White enjoys space advantage and can think of initiating an attack on the King side

14...Bg6 15.Ng5 Re8 16.f4 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 f5

Trying to close the King side. 18.Be3. If 18.g4 h6 19.Nxe6 Rxe6 20.gxf5 Re7 leads to an unclear position

18. ..Nf8 19.Kh1 Rc8 20.g4 Qd7 21.Rg1 Be7 22.Nf3 Rc4 23.Rg2

Topalov stays true to his aggressive style

23. ..fxg4 24.Rxg4 Rxa4 25.Rag1 g6 26.h4 Rb4 27.h5 Qb5. A cursory glance reveals that Black stands better but White is just about to get going

28.Qc2

A good move. If 28.hxg6 Qxd3 29.gxh7+ Kxh7 30.Rg7+ Kh6 31.f5+ the bishop is hanging.

28...Rxb2 29.hxg6! But now, the previous variation leads to mate, so Black has to keep the g-file closed, at least for a while. 29...h5 30.g7! hxg4 31.gxf8Q+

31...Bxf8

If 31...Kxf8 32.Qg6 Qe2 33.Qxg4







32.Qg6+

Chess blindness? Topalov misses a simple winning continuation with 32.Rxg4+ Bg7 33.Qc7 Qf1+ 34.Ng1 and it is all over for Black

32...Bg7 33.f5 Re7

If 33...exf5 34.Bh6 Qd7 35.Ng5 Rb6 36.e6 Rexe6 37.Qh7+ Kf8 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Qxg7+ Kd8 40.Nf7+ Kc8 41.Rc1+ Kb8 42.Bf4+ Ka8 43.Nd6 Qxg7

34.f6 Qe2 35.Qxg4 Rf7

If 35...Qxe3 36.fxe7 Qh6+ 37.Nh4 Kf7 38.Qxg7+ with a win for White

36.Rc1.

Computers suggest 36.Qh5 as stronger

36...Rc2 37.Rxc2 Qd1+ 38.Kg2 Qxc2+ 39.Kg3 Qe4

Black desperately tries to simplify the position by an invitation to swap queens

40.Bf4. He could have tried to capture the bishop and play on 40...Qf5 41.Qxf5 exf5 42.Bg5.

Falling short of time to make the moves he wants. Kramnik’s two passed on the queen side are soon going to be troublesome

42...a5 43.Kf4 a4 44.Kxf5 a3 45.Bc1 Bf8 46.e6 Rc7 47.Bxa3 Bxa3 48.Ke5 Rc1 49.Ng5 Rf1.

Here 49...Rg1 looks better.

50.e7 Re1+ 51.Kxd5 Bxe7 52.fxe7 Rxe7 53.Kd6.

The position does appear drawish at this point but the computers show advantage to Black

53...Re1

Analysis show 53...Re3, as the winning move

54.d5 Kf8 55.Ne6+.

55.Kd7 might perhaps have saved the game

55...Ke8 56.Nc7+ Kd8 57.Ne6+ Kc8.

Black is winning now

58.Ke7 Rh1 59.Ng5 b5 60.d6 Rd1 61.Ne6 b4 62.Nc5 Re1+ 63.Kf6 Re3 and White resigned.

Have you ever wanted to be invited to play in the World Blitz Championship? Now is your chance! The Internet Chess Club is proud to be a sponsor of the upcoming FIDE World Blitz Championship alongside the Israel Chess Federation and FIDE. ICC will be hosting two qualifying tournaments, then playoffs, in which the best players will win two of only sixteen seats at this year's World Blitz Championship in Rishon Lezion, Israel. The winners will get to play against Anand, Leko, Svidler, Gelfand, Morozevich, Judit Polgar and several other of the top players in the world! ICC will also be crowning its own ICC World Blitz Champions, including class champions, where winners will be awarded valuable prizes and trophies! Besides an open section where seats in Israel's FIDE event are won, we will have class sections for U2200, U2000, U1800, and U1600. It's the largest prize tournament ever held on ICC. It's time to get your game on! Details, prizes, and rules will be announced soon.

Visit the FIDE World Blitz Championship website.

Armenia took first place at this year's 37th Olympiad which took place in Turin, Italy. Finishing with 36.0 points after the final round, they finished two points ahead of the second place finishers China. Armenia had an outstanding team to work with giving them many resources at their fingertips.

GM Levon Aronian
Aronian played 11 games, winning four, drawing six, and losing one game for an individual score of 7.0 points. His only loss came at the hands of GM Vladimir Kramnik in round five. He defeated GM Peter Heine Nielsen (DEN), GM Erlend Johannessen Leif (NOR), GM Ivan Sokolov (NED), and GM David Navara (CZE).

GM Vladimir Akopian
Akopian played 12 games, winning six, drawing six, and losing none for an individual score of 9.0 points! His victims along the way included Joel Adebayo Adegboyega (NGR), GM Berg Hansen Sune (DEN), GM Kjetil A. Lie (NOR), GM Aleksey Barsov (UZB), GM Perez Leinier Dominguez (CUB), and GM Zhong Zhang (CHN).

GM Karen Asrian
Asrian played 10 games, winning one, drawing eight, and losing one for an individual score of 5.0 points. He defeated GM Vlastimil Babula (CZE) in round 11. His only lost came at the hands of IM Rafael Prasca (VEN) in round one.

GM Smbat Lputian
Lputian only played three games for team Armenia. He achieved two wins and one draw for an individual score of 2.5 points. He defeated IM Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN) in round one and GM Einar Gausel (NOR) in round four. His draw came against IM Odion Aikhoje (NGR) in round two.

GM Gabriel Sargissian
Sargissian played every round of the tournament and exhausting it must have been! Sargissian achieved seven wins, six draws, and not a single loss for an individual score of 10.0 points! Those that fell included FM Oliver Soto (VEN), Olubunmi Olape (NGR), GM Rune Djurhuus (NOR), GM Alexander Morozevich (RUS), GM Erwin L'ami (NED), GM Yuniesky Quezada Perez (CUB), and GM Alexander Moiseyenko (UKR). Sargissian tied with GM Yue Wang (CHN) for the most points scored in the tournament.

GM Artashes Minasian
Minasian only played in three rounds like Lputian and scored the same as well. He achieved two wins and one draw for an individual score of 2.5 points. His two wins were over FM Alexander Hernandez (VEN) in round one and IM Akintola Fola (NGR) in round two.

Armenia came into the Olympiad seeded third and showed it during every round. Shutting out Norway in round four and decisively beating Venezuela, Nigeria, Netherlands, Cuba, and the Czech Republic.


Congratulations to Armenia for their impressive performance and exciting victory over the rest of the field!

Photos courtesy of FIDE.

World number two Viswanathan Anand crashed to a shocking defeat as Indian men suffered another humiliation going down to a low ranked Canada by a 1.5-2.5 margin in the 12th and penultimate round at the Chess Olympiad.

Anand lost early against Pascal Charbonneau on the top board and that set the tone for another disaster as Surya Shekhar Ganguly was also stunned by unheralded International Master Thomas Roussel-Roozmon later in the day.

Former World Junior champion P Harikrishna saved some blushes for the Indians with a victory on the third board against Krnan Tomas while Krishnan Sasikiran could only manage a draw against GM Mark Bluvshtein on the second.

The second seeded Indian team struggled from the first round despite starting as the second favourites in the 37th edition of the Olympiad.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tables, Armenia took a huge 2.5 points lead over nearest rivals China with a clinical 2-2 draw with France without much ado.

Armenian players settled for peace pretty quickly while the Chinese men had to work hard for a 3-1 victory over Czech republic and now they are firmly in second place on 31.5 points, a half point adrift of nearest rival Russia.

Russian also did well to beat Cuba by a 3-1 margin and even as Armenia is now almost confirmed for the gold medal the fight for the silver is still on between Russia and China.

What more could you ask for? Hundreds of the world's best players descending onto one town, battling it out for their country. That's exactly what is happening right now in northern Italy in the town of Turin. 150 countries from around the world have sent six of their top men's players and four of their top women's players to put on their best performances in representing their homeland. The Olympiad has been organized by FIDE since 1927 and takes place every two years.

There are thirteen rounds during the event. During each round each country puts four players into action giving two players a rest and then alternate their players as they choose. Strategy not only takes place at the boards but off the boards as well! Who needs a rest? Who's feeling in top form on a particular day? Who's on a hot streak? It all comes into play at this event.

After eleven rounds of action the Olympiad is heading into its closing rounds. In the men's section Russia broke out into an early lead holding onto first place spot until round six when they lost to France allowing Armenia to jump into the lead. Armenia has held the first place spot since. In the women's section a three way tie between China, Lithuania, and France heated up the action by round two.

Individual performances have been exciting to follow. GM Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia has the best record on points with 8.0 points out of 9 games. GM Vladimir Kramnik has the best performance rating of the event with 2873. His rating entering the tournament was 2729! The best win percentage is held by the untitled player Tunveer Mohyuddin Gillani of Pakistan with 6.0/6.0.

Men's Top 10 Results After Round 11:

Rank	Team	Score
1	Armenia	32.0
2	China	28.5
3	France	28.5
4	Russia	28.0
5	USA	28.0
6	Czech Republic	27.5
7	Ukraine	27.5
8	Cuba	27.5
9	Israel	27.5
10	Netherlands	27.0

Women's Top 10 Results After Round 11:

Rank	Team	Score
1	Ukraine	25.5
2	Russia	24.5
3	China	23.5
4	USA	21.5
5	India	21.5
6	Georgia	21.0
7	Hungary	20.5
8	Armenia	20.5
9	France	20.5
10	Bulgaria	20.0

View all of the games played in the Olympiad in PGN format:

Men's Games (2,652 games)

Women's Games (1,380 games)

37th Chess Olympiad Round 11 Report

With Super Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand having a really bad tournament team India the number 2 seeds in the tournament continued to perform well below par as they lost to 6th seed Israel in the 11th round of the 37th chess olympiad being held in Turin.

Anand was held to a draw by GM Boris Gelfand in a Sicilian in just 23 moves. This was his 7th succesive draw in what has been a very poor tournament for him. Most probably he is suffering from over exertion coming as he is from the M-tel Masters where he finished 3rd.

GM P.Harikrishna was also held to a draw by GM Emil Sutovsky ranked 60 Elo points below him. The game was a Scandinavian, which is rarely seen at this level . Harikrishna with white may not have been fully prepared for this opening and held on for a draw after an exciting middle game which saw a see saw battle for supremacy.

On the Second board GM Sasikiran lost to GM Ilia Smirin with black pieces in a sicilian game lasting for 84 moves. Sasikiran appeared to be in control of the game throughout but an ill timed Rook for Bishop sacrifice on move 35 cost him valuable tempo and he went down fighting.

On the last board GM Sandipan Chanda played a poor game Against GM Boris Avrukh of Israel in a Queens Indian game which lasted for 62 moves. The players exchanged pieces rapidly outof the opening and Chanda came out a pawn down. With the White Central pawns looking very menacing , Chanda playing black, tried his best to equalise but could not keep them from queening. With nothing else to stop the e pawn from queening Chanda resigned on move 62.

Russia - USA: Kamsky drew Kramnik . Onischuk drew Svidler. Kaidanov comfortably drew Bareev. Nakamura defeated super GM Grischuk which gave USA a 2.5-1.5 win over Russia and basically eliminated Russia from Gold medal contention.

At the top of the leader board the Armenian team defeated the Czech 3-1 and practically secured the Gold with Russia's loss. This further proves that the Armenian team work, camraderie and national pride plays a big role in their incredible success in the Olympiad.

Standings After round 11: Top 5 teams

Men :
Armenia 32.0
China and France 28.5
Russia and USA 28.0

India is tied at 26th place with 25.5 points.

Women:
Ukraine 25.5
Russia 24.5
China 23.5
USA and India 21.5

Riding on hope and hype, the Indian contingent reached here looking for a medal from the open section. After Russia, India presented the strongest team and rightly earned the second seeding in the field of 148 countries playing in the Chess Olympiad. After all, since the 2004 edition in Calvia, the exploits of K. Sasikiran and P. Hari Krishna had helped them join Viswanathan Anand in the top-25 players of the world.

Barring Anand and Sasikiran, the other players had worked with coach Elizbar Ubilava in a short camp and looked raring to go. For the first time, every player received appearance money, thanks to sponsor Canara Bank which made sure that the team was kitted well.

Everything pointed to a strong medal bid by the Indians, in keeping with their known playing strength. Overall, everything pointed to a spirited performance from the Indians.

But once the action began, the combination seldom played to its potential. Even the presence of Anand failed to inspire the other players to give their best. With three rounds to go, this Indian team is in the danger of being remembered as the one that disappointed the most in Chess Olympiads.

Shock defeat

Barring leader Armenia and USA, all the contenders, including defending champion Ukraine, favourite Russia and India have suffered at least two defeats in the 10 rounds played so far. India may have recovered from the 1-3 defeat to the 74th seeded Morocco in the first round with comprehensive 4-0 wins over Cyprus and Mongolia, but it has played poorly thereafter in most of the matches.

Anand needs to fire

Anand's repeated bids to outsmart his much lower-rated rivals have not succeeded in the past week. He needs no reminding that unless he fires in the last three rounds, India has no chance of a medal. Anand is likely to face old foe Boris Gelfand on the top board in the 11th round. Another draw cannot be ruled out.

From the women's team, the expectations were far less. That, in turn, has made the girls play more free and without pressure.

K. Humpy (7/9) has shown the way. Swati Ghate (6/9) has had her moments after being involving in all decisive games while D. Harika has been the asked to play for a draw by the team management and she, in spite of being reluctant, has done a reasonably decent job.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the incumbent, President of FIDE was reelected. Delegates from more than 150 national chess federations cast their ballots on Friday in Turin, Italy, to elect the president of the International Chess Federation. The result was a clear victory for the incumbent president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who collected 96 votes, compared to 57 for his challenger Bessel Kok.

Adult and Scholastic Sections Available ----- July 14 through July 16

The $8,200 Houston Open chess tournament will be held July 14-16 at the Sofitel Houston Hotel, 425 N. Sam Houston Parkway East, in Houston. Adults will play 5 rounds, G/120, over a 3-day or 2-day schedule and will be divided into 5 rating sections (OPEN, U2000, U1800, U1600/unr., U1300).

A side event will be a Scholastic chess tournament on Saturday afternoon, July 15, starting at 1:00 p.m. Scholastic players (individual) will play 4 rounds, G/30 and will be divided into 3 rating sections (Open, U1000, U700).Trophies and medals will be awarded to the winners of the scholastic sections, and each scholastic player will be given a free chess gift. An additional side event will be the 5-minute Cajun Knock-Out blitz tournament on Saturday night after Round 3.

For further information or on-line registration, please see www.cajunchess.com and click on Upcoming Tournaments.To register by phone, please call (713) 530-7820 or (504) 905-2971, or email cajunchess@yahoo.com.

World number two Viswanathan Anand settled for a draw for the sixth consecutive time as Indian men continued to move at a slow pace and were held 2-2 by Cuba in the 10th round of the 37th Chess Olympiad.

Anand, who was playing his seventh game out of ten here so far, did not get any chances against Bruzon Lazaro of Cuba and ended on equal footing in the keenly contested game.

The Indian ace had won his first encounter here against a lowly placed Mongolian and since then he has not been able to find his touch -- something his second seed team needs badly as they are theoretically still in contention for a medal even though the optimism is fading away fast.

Anand's draw in fact turned out to be infectious as none of the other higher rated Indians could break the ice against solid Cuban counterparts. On the remaining boards, Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna and Surya Shekhar Ganguly also signed peace to leave the team precariously placed on 24.5 points with just three rounds or 12 games remaining.

Meanwhile the Armenians continued to roll and scored a fine 1 2.5-1.5 win over China with second board Vladimir Akopian scoring a memorable victory over Zhang Zhong in an incredible game.

The Armenians took their tally to 29 points after the victory and took a huge two points lead over China that maintained its sole second position despite the loss. Top seed Russians and Czech Republic are placed joint third on 26.5 points while France is closely following them on 26 points with USA on their toes.

Indian eves have made a strong comeback by scoring a huge 3-0 win against Mongolia in the 10th round of the Women's Chess Olympiad.It turned out to be good day for the ninth seed Indian women's team as it surged to joint fifth spot in the standings after their fine victory.

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy had the toughest challenge to meet amongst the Indian girls and she did not disappoint on the top board.Women Grandmasters D Harika and Swati Ghate also came up with inspired performances on the remaining two boards to keep alive India's medal hopes.

Ukraine maintained their half point lead over nearest rivals Russia with a fine 2-1 victory over former champions Georgia.The Russian women defeated Bulgaria with a similar margin but it was not enough to catch up with Ukraine that started the day with a half point cushion.

With Ukraine on 23 points and Russia on its toes, the top two medals are virtually decided with just three rounds remaining in the biggest team event in the world. What remains to be seen is who will finish third and China and Georgia appear firm contenders for that as of now, occupying the next two spots on 20.5 and 20 points respectively.

The Indian women's team was in shambles before the start of the 10th round but now they look much better on 19.5 points, the same as Bulgaria and Greece who share the fifth place with the Indians.

With Grandmaster Koneru Humpy back to her winnings ways, Indian eves outplayed Kazakhstan 2-1 to improve their ranking while their male counterparts, without Viswanathan Anand, played out a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan in the ninth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad here.

Humpy came back strongly after a loss in the previous round to defeat Kazakh top player Daa Aketayeva while D Harika produced a much needed victory over Sofya Zigangirova. However, Swati Ghate failed to make it a clean sweep going down against untitled Gulmira Dauletova.

At the top of the table, defending champion China held top seed and overnight sole leader Russia to a draw. It turned out to be a big gain for Ukraine who scored a 2.5-0.5 victory over the United States to emerge as the new leader on 21 points with four rounds to go.

Humpy had to work hard for a victory against Dana Aketayeva who played safely with white pieces. The Indian opted for the Pirc defense and had a level position on board after Aketayeva employed a harmless Fianchetto variation.

Humpy was unpurturbed by exchanges in the middle game and marched her central pawn to create weaknesses in white’s position. The queens changed hands on the 45th move giving Humpy a tangible advantage with an extra pawn and she romped home after 63 moves.

The second seed Indian men came up with another mediocre performance and missed out on a victory over the lower ranked Uzbeks despite Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda enjoying a better rating than their counterparts.

With just four rounds to go, the Indian men are clearly struggling on joint 10th spot with just 22.5 points. Meanwhile the Chinese men scored a surprising 4-0 victory over Georgia and jump to the second spot behind Armenia who continued its impressive run to down defending champion Ukraine by a 2.5-1.5 margin.

A rude shock awaited the top seed Russians as France fourth board Laurent Fressinet downed Sergey Rublevsky to lead the team to an emphatic 2.5-1.5 victory after the first three boards ended in draws. As things stand, Armenia retained its sole lead on 26.5 points while a full point adrift of them now are the Chinese men with 25.5 points in their bag.

Krishnan Sasikiran, playing with black, had a good game with former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov even though the Queens Gambit Declined Slav variation encounter ended in a quick draw after 21 moves. In other matches against Uzbekistan, P Harikrishna was held by Aleksey Barsov, Surya Shekhar Ganguly split point with Timur Gareyev while Sandipan Chanda too shared the honours with Saidali Iuldachev.

Indians had a mixed outing in the eighth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad.

The men scored a 2.5-1.5 victory over Bulgaria, while the women suffered defeat from Armenia.

Viswanathan Anand played out his fifth draw on the trot, settling for peace with former world junior champion Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria.

Playing white, Georgiev adopted the same defensive approach against Anand that had helped a few other lesser-rated players here hold the Indian star. The exchange of queens expedited the outcome of this 21-move miniature.

With five rounds to go, Armenia, with 24 points, has a two-point lead over Ukraine and Russia.

National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly , against Alexander Delchev, returning to action after a day's break, lost for the first time in seven outings here.

On the brighter side, the laboured victories of K. Sasikiran and Sandipan Chanda, both playing white, helped India repeat its victory over the same Bulgarian quartet with a similar margin in the final round of the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia.

Even on that occasion, Veselin Topalov, who went on to become the World champion last year, was not part of the Bulgarian National team.

Chanda gained the upperhand within minutes of the start, as Vasil Spasov walked into his home preparation. But it took Chanda 97 moves to stamp his superiority with his rook proving powerful to his rival's knight.

Sasikiran, unlike Chanda, took his time to assert himself and squeezed out a much-much needed victory over Ivan Cheparinov, better known as Topalov's second, in 88 moves after the queens returned on the board. In the end, Sasikiran's two-pawn advantage made the difference.

Fumbling down

Indian mainstay Koneru Humpy fumbled against Lilit Mkrtchian and suffered her first defeat in the event as the Indian women lost to Armenia by a 1-2 margin. D Harika also went down while the lone saving grace was Swati Ghate who won an engrossing battle on the third board to thwart a whitewash.


At the top of the tables, the Armenian men yet again proved that they are the frontrunners this time with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Cuba. The Russian men could only manage a 2-2 draw with Czech Republic which meant that Armenia took a two point lead over their nearest rivals.

In the women's section, Russia drew with Czech Republic raising Ukraine's title hopes. The result narrowed Czechs' lead to half a point. The Ukrainians cruised to an easy 2-1 victory over Hungary.

P Harikrishna’s tactical blunder cost his side dearly and the Indian men’s team went down 1.52.5 to Ukraine while the eves suffered a 0.5-2.5 defeat against America in the seventh round of the 37th Chess Olympiad on Sunday.

India’s best bet Viswanathan Anand, playing with white on board one against Ukraine’s toughest player Vassily Ivanchuk, tried everything in the game that followed the Ruy Lopez pattern. Chucky, as Ivanchuk is known in the chess world, played a tactical game and did not allow his Indian opponent any leeway. A pawn down in the end part, Anand eventually agreed for a draw.

But on the third white board, Harikrishna failed to assert his white superiority against the Sergey Karjakin and lost the game —and one full point when India looked set to get at least a draw.

The men’s team, after this loss, now has 18 points. Koneru Humpy being rested, the Indian women lost two games and drew one against the US. International Master Irina Krush, despite having black pieces, played a good and attacking game to crush Swati Ghate, who had won her last three Round games with ease and Mary Aan Gomes proved no match to Rusudan Goletiani either. Dronavalli Harika was the only saving grace who, despite having black pieces, gave a tough fight to Anna Zatonskkih and made her accept a draw.

TOP BOARDS RESULTS : Men: Netherlands lost to Armenia 1-3; Russia lost to Belarus 1-3; India lost to Ukraine 1.5-2.5; US beat Sweden 2-1; Uzbekistan beat Brazil 1.5-0.5; Georgia beat Poland 3-1; Italy A beat Portugal 2.5-1.5; Czech Republic beat Israel 3-1; Cuba beat Indonesia 3.5-0.5; Bulgaria beat Hungary 2.5-1.5. Women: Ukrain beat Romania 2.5-0.5; US beat India 2.5-0.5; Hungary beat Estonia 2.5-0.5; Ecuador beat Italy A 2-1; Slovenia beat Spain 2.5-0.5; Armenia beat Belarus 1.50.5; Latvia beat Kazakhstan 2.5-0.5.

National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and P Harikrishna scored brilliant victories to help India post a resounding 3-1 victory over Germany in the sixth round of the Chess Olympiad here on Sunday.

After a rather subdued start, the Indian men are back into reckoning in the biggest chess event which saw top seed Russians suffering a shocking 1.5-2.5 defeat at the hands of Holland in the sixth round. Russian National Champion Sergey Rublevsky failed to hold his ground against Dutchman Friso Nijboer. Third seed Armenia gained lost ground as they scored a much needed 2.51.5 victory over Uzbekistan by notching a win on the second board while drawing the rest of the games.

With 16.5 points, Indian men are on joint fifth position while Armenia is the sole leader with 18 points in their kitty after six rounds.

For India, world number two Viswanathan Anand and second ranked Indian player Krishnan Sasikiran achieved draws on the top two boards while Harikrishna and Ganguly scored victories over Christopher Lutz and Alexander Grafm respectively on the third and fourth board to script a grand victory.

Viswanathan Anand, on the top board could not break the ice against a solid Arkadij Naiditsch while Sasikiran’s attempt to complicate against Artur Jussopow also did not materialize.

In the women’s section being played simultaneously, the Indian eves yet again came out with flying colours scoring a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in their sixth round game.

Koneru Humpy drew her game playing on the top board while D Harika achieved the same result on the second. Much was expected from National women champion Swati Ghate and she came up with yet another splendid effort to score a victory.

The Indian eves are on third spot with 13 points while Russia continues to lead the table after six rounds.

Indian men’s team, led by Viswanathan Anand, split points with China but Koneru Humpy inspired the women to a resounding 2.5-0.5 win over Turkey in the fifth round of the Chess Olympiad in Turin on Friday.

The second seeded men’s team was held to dull draws by the Chinese team, which had just one player with higher ELO ratings than the Indians.

Anand, P Harikrishna and K Sasikiran played out draws against China’s Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong and Wang Yue respectively. The only bitterly fought game was played between Ni Hua and Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who held his own against his higher rated opponent and forced a draw despite Hua being in a better White position.

In the women’s event, the Indian trio of Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and Swati Ghate played well to beat their opponents from Turkey.

Humpy, playing with white had little trouble beating the lower rated Atalik-Polo but WGM Harika was held to a draw by WFM Topel Zehra, while Swati proved way too good for Ozturk Kubr and played her usual game to take India to a comfortable win.

The men’s team will now take on Germany in the sixth round on Sunday after a day’s break, while the women — seeded ninth — will square off against Slovenia.

Meanwhile, in the other important match of the men’s section, top seed and tournament leader Russia managed only one win while lost one and drew two against Armenia to finish the match 2-2.

Russia’s highest ranked player Vladimir Kramnik was the only player to win when he thrashed Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian but Alexander Morozevich lost to Sargassian in an interesting encounter while the other two games ended in draws.

Results:

Men: India drew with China 2.0-2.0; Russia drew with Armenia 2.0-2.0; Uzbekistan drew with Netherlands 2.0-2.0; Ukraine drew with Bulgaria 2.0-2.0; USA beat Georgia 1.5-2.5; Poland beat Italy A 2.5-1.5; Greece beat Aargentina 2.5-1.5. Women: India beat Turkey 2.5-0.5; Ukraine beat Russia 2.0-1.0; Bulgaria drew with USA 1.5-1.5; Hungary beat China 2.5-0.5; Romania beat Estonia 1.0-2.0; Spain beat Lithuania 1.0-2.0 Mongolia beat Israel 0.5-2.5; Germany beat Italy A 1.5-1.5; Slovakia beat Vietnam 1.0-2.0; Armenia beat Greece 2.0-1.0.

The 37th Chess Olympiad began this week in Turin, Italy. 150 countries and over 740 titled players from around the globe are competing in the event.

Russia and Armenia are in the lead with 15.5 points each in the men's section and Russia leads the women's section with 12.5 points. In the men's section, Russia has been in first place since the start of the event while Armenia climbed into the top 10 after the fourth round.

The players on the Russian team are some of the best players in the world, GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Peter Svidler, GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Alexander Morozevich, GM Evgeny Bareev, and GM Sergey Rublevskiy. Armenia has some top names as well like GM Levon Aronian, GM Vladimir Akopian, and GM Smbat Lputian.

GM Vishwanathan Anand is also playing at this event for India.


As we approach the later rounds the matches are getting more and more interesting. All the top matches in round 4 finished tied at 2-2. Uzbekistan (30th seed) and Iran (51st seed) are both in the top ten and USA climbed into the top ten after round four.

The event is being played at The Oval Hall which claims to be the biggest playing venue ever seen for a Chess Olympiad with over 68,897 square feet of room.

Women Grandmaster Swati Ghate scored a thumping victory against higher ranked International Master Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and helped the Indian eves salvage a draw against third seed Georgia in the fourth round .

Grandmaster and the highest ranked girl in the World Koneru Humpys wining streak was halted by seasoned Georgian Women Grandmaster Nino Khurtsidze on the top board while Mary Ann Gomes went down against experienced WGM Lela Javakhishvili before Ghate carved out a fine attacking victory to draw parity with the former champions.

With nine rounds still to come, Russia took sole lead with 11.5 points out of a possible 12 and is now sitting on a huge 1.5 points ahead of nearest rival Ukraine. USA, China and Bulgaria share the third spot on 9.5 points while there are five teams right on their heels with 9 points apiece. The Indian eves are next in the standings, with 8.5 points, sharing the 11th spot with six others.

Earlier in the day, Swati Ghate outwitted Dzagnidze in certainly the game of the day from Indian perspective.

India just about managed to get past Hungary in Round 4 of the 37th Chess Olympiad.National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly guided the Indian men to a narrow 2.51.5 victory over Hungary in the fourth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad on Thursday.

It turned out to be a difficult day for the second seed Indians after Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi on the first board but Gangulys expertise came in handy against Robert Ruck. Both Krishnan Sasikiran and P Harikrishna drew their games.

At the top of the tables, Russia defeated China with a 3-1 margin to stay in joint lead along with Armenia, who trounced Norway 4-0, both having pocketed 13.5 points. The Netherlands is on the sole third spot on 13 points followed by Uzbekistan on 12.5 points. A pack of four teams including defending champions Ukraine are next in line on 12 points while the Indian men are joint ninth at this stage with 11.5 points in their kitty.


A little before that, Ganguly crushed Ruck with his white pieces to give the team an early lead. The Indian Grandmaster, playing against the Sicilian Nazdorf also, came up with a modest opening not played at the highest level too much but found Robert off guard amidst the intricacies.

Anand played the Sicilian Nazdorf against Zoltan Almasi on the top board and the players followed a recently fashionable variation wherein the Indian ace did not quite get the counter play he was looking for in the English attack employed by his opponent.

Almasi could claim some advantage after the queens got traded in the middle game and Anand was seen skiing on thin ice once the endgame approached. The peace was signed after 49 moves.

[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Almasi(HUN)"]
[Black "Anand(IND)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2657"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Najdorf"]
[ECO "B90"]


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8.
Be3 Be7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. g5 b4 13. Ne2 Ne8 14. f4 a5
15. Kb1 a4 16. Nbc1 exf4 17. Nxf4 Bxg5 18. Nxe6 Bxe3 19. Nxd8 Bxd2 20. Rxd2
Rxd8 21. Rd4 Nef6 22. Rxb4 Nc5 23. Bg2 Rfe8 24. Nd3 Nfxe4 25. Nxc5 Nxc5 26.
Bc6 Re5 27. Rd4 g5 28. b4 axb3 29. cxb3 Rc8 30. Rxd6 Ne4 31. Bxe4 Rxe4 32.
Rg1 Rc5 33. a4 h5 34. Rgd1 g4 35. R6d5 Rc3 36. Kb2 Rf3 37. a5 Ree3 38. Rb5
Rf2+ 39. Ka3 Rxh2 40. a6 Re6 41. Ra5 Re8 42. a7 Ra8 43. Rd7 Kg7 44. Rb7 Re2
45. Rb8 Re8 46. Rxe8 Rxe8 47. b4 g3 48. Rxh5 Ra8 49. Rg5+ {Game drawn}
1/2-1/2

The game moved along expected lines with hardly any variation from the mainline. Though Anand tried hard to convert an equal position into a win, it was a tough ask against Almasi, who never looked in any trouble.

With this win India are tied for 9-12 position with China among other teams.

Bolstered by the arrival of GM Vishwanathan Anand the Indian men's team continued their winning streak, defeating lowly ranked Mongolia in round 3 of the 37th Chess Olympiad being held in Turin, Italy. With this win India , the second seeds are now placed 17th. After the shock defeat to morocco in the first round,the Indian team has bounced back with consecutive 4-0 dfeats of their opponents inth next two rounds.

Anand,Viswanathan (IND) (2803) - Batchuluun,Cegmed (MGL) (2303)
WCO 2006 Italy (3), 23.05.2006
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Ne2 f6 8.c3 Be7 9.g3 cxd4 10.cxd4 0-0 11.Bg2 Qb6 12.a3 a5 13.b3 fxe5 14.fxe5 19-year-old Cegmed Batchuluun, facing a player who is exactly 500 Elo points above him in the rating list, and with the black pieces, decides to sacrifice a piece for a lottery ticket to fame and glory. 14...Ndxe5?! Way to go, Cegmed! Even if Anand cooly takes you to pieces. 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Rf1 Nxf3+ 17.Rxf3 Rxf3 18.Bxf3 Bd7 19.Bb2 Bc5 20.Kf1 Rf8 21.Kg2 Bc6 22.Nd4 Bd7 23.Bg4 Rf7 24.Rc1 h6 25.h4 Rf8 26.Qd3 Rf7 27.Re1 Rf6 28.Nf3 Rf7 29.a4 Rf8 30.Re2 Bc8 31.Qg6 d4 32.Bxe6+ Kh8 33.Ng5 Qc6+ 34.Kh2 and mate to follow. 1-0.

Is he man or is he machine? GM Veselin Topalov continues to impress the chess world. Just when you think that Topalov is having a "not so good" tournament he makes a come back in the second half to win it all. This past week in Sofia, Bulgaria at the Mtel Masters tournament Topalov won his last four games, after having a weak first half, to win the tournament in clear first.

Is it deja vu? Last year Topalov did the same thing finishing the last half of the Mtel Masters with 4.5 out of 5 to finish in clear first. Is he toying with us? Or, does he just have a knack for rocking the ramparts towards the end of these incredibly challenging and long events? Regardless, Topalov continues to impress us with his top-notch chess play.

GM Gata Kamsky had a fantastic tournament as well finishing in clear second place, missing first place by a just a half point. Kamsky led most of the tournament until the ninth round when he lost to Topalov in his storm to the top.

FINAL RESULTS:

Rank	Name	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts
1	Topalov Veselin	BUL	-	1 1	0 1	½ 0	½ 1	½ 1	6½
2	Kamsky Gata	USA	0 0	-	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	6.0
3	Anand Viswanathan	IND	1 0	0 ½	-	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	5½
4	Svidler Peter	RUS	½ 1	0 ½	½ ½	-	1 0	½ ½	5.0
5	Ponomariov Ruslan	UKR	½ 0	½ 0	0 ½	0 1	-	½ ½	3½
6	Bacrot Etienne	FRA	½ 0	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	-	3½

View all of the games played in the tournament in PGN format. You can also read more details on the official Mtel Masters web site.

Indian men bounced back after an opening day loss with a convincing 4-0 victory over Cyprus in the second round of the 37th chess Olympiad here.

After a 1-3 drubbing at the hands of Morocco in the first round of the biennial chess event, it was an impressive recovery by the Indians as they took the team score to a respectable 5 points out of a possible 8 games.

The second-seeded team shed the opening days blues and won on all four boards with Grand Masters Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda coming out trumps.

With 11 rounds still to go and Viswanathan Anand set to join the team anytime now, it seems on the cards that they will be in the reckoning for a medal but the defeat at the hands of Morocco in round one will certainly haunt the men for quite some time.

In the women’s section, the splendid start provided by Koneru Humpy went in waste after blunders by Swati Ghate and D Harika saw India settling for a draw with Vietnam in the second round.

The Indian eves looked set for a 3-0 victory after Humpy did the early damage on the first board but subsequent mistakes by Ghate and Harika produced the 1.5-1-5 result.

The second seed Indian men's team was handed a humiliating 1-3 defeat by lower-ranked Morocco in the first round of the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin on Monday.

Grandmasters Pendyala Harikrishna and National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly could manage only a half point each on the top two boards while on the remaining boards GM Sandipan Chanda and International Master-to-be Diwakar Prasad Singh suffered unexpected defeats, thus delting an early blow to the India's medal aspirations.

Surprisingly, top-ranked GM Krishnan Sasikiran was rested in the first round despite the absence of Viswanathan Anand, who is expected to arrive in Turin today but will most probably start playing from the fourth round.

The team hopes the arrival of Anand from Sofia in Bulgaria, where the Indian ace just finished a super category event, will make the difference.

The result appalled the team members and officials alike. In the last Olympiad when the men had finished sixth, the worst result during the course of the tournament was a 1.5-2.5 loss against eventual winners Ukraine, but this time losing to Morocco -- a team which is unlikely to find itself in the top 30 here -- like the way they did, left a lot of ground to be covered in the remaining 12 rounds.

For the record, India was the only seeded team in top 30 that lost in the 146-team competition. Ninth seeds Azerbaijan also suffered a setback, drawing with Mangolia 2-2.

Ganguly was the first to take a draw with Elbilia Jacques, who is rated around 250 points less than the Indian. Playing white, Ganguly did not get much advantage in an age-old Phillidor defense game and signed peace in just 26 moves.

Harikrishna drew a tense game with Hichem Hamdouchi -- the best player and the lone Grandmaster in the Moroccan team, while Chanda and D P Singh gave the opposition a victory to cherish for a long time.

In the first round, as many as 35 teams got of to a flier, scoring 4-0 victories over their respective opponents.

Top seed Russia, eighth ranked Holland and teams like Bangladesh, Singapore, Paraguay and Luxembourg successfully wiped out their respective opposition, third seeded Armenia dropped a full point against Venezuela while defending champion Ukraine and sixth seed Israel lost a half point each against IBCA (International Braille Chess Association) and IPCA (International Physically Disabled Chess Association) to start their campaign in the biggest chess event of the world.

Amongt other higher ranked teams, the United States could only manage a minimal victory over New Zealand, winning by a 2.5-1.5 margin and England dropped a half point against UAE.

Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was surprisingly held to a draw by IBCA top board Sergey Krylov while Yarmonov Igor of IBCA held regarded GM Alexander Huzman of Israel to a draw.

Important results round 1: Russia beat Kazakhstan 4-0; Morocco beat India 3-1; Armenia beat Venezuela 3-1; IBCA lost to Ukraine 0.5-3.5; France beat Bolivia 3.5-0.5 ; IPCA lost to Israel 0.5-3.5; USA beat New Zealand 2.5-1.5; Faroe Islands lost to Netherlands 4-0; Italy A beat Monaco 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan drew with Mongolia 2-2; Kyrgystan lost to Bulgaria 0-4; Spain beat Malaysia 4-0; Syria lost to China 0.5-3.5; England beat UAE 3.5-0.5; South Africa lost to Germany 0-4; Romania beat Nicaragua 4-0; Dominican Republic lost to Hungary 0.5-3.5; Georgia beat ICSC 4-0; Algeria lost to Cuba 1.5-2.5; Belarus beat Wales 2.5-1.5.

Indian board results: 1. Hichem Hamdouchi drew with GM P Harikrishna; 2. Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew with Elbilia Jacques; 3. Karim Ismael beat Sandipan Chanda; 4. D P Singh lost to Arbouche Muhamed.