37th Chess Olympiad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tournament hall
Enlarge
The tournament hall

The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open [1] and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between May 20 and 6 June, 2006, in Turin, Italy.

Contents

[edit] Human chess competition

[edit] Open tournament

The open division was contested by 148 teams representing 143 nations and territories; Italy, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Blind Chess Association, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, International Silent Chess Committee each provided one squad; neither Somalia nor Sierra Leone, each of which had registered a team, participated.

Led by first board Grandmaster (GM) Levon Aronian, the second highest-rated player at the Olympiad, and first reserve GM Gabriel Sargissian, who scored 10 points in 11 games, Armenia improved on their third place performance at the 36th Olympiad, claiming the gold medal by two full points over the silver medal-winning People's Republic of China, whose fourth board, GM Wang Yue, went undefeated, winning eight games and drawing four; Armenia ended the tournament without having lost a match, winning 10 and drawing three, including in the final round against Hungary, when four draws were cursorily recorded. Aronian was the only Armenian player to lose a game during the tournament, falling in the fifth round to Russia's GM Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik, playing internationally for the first time in six months, scored six-and-one-half points in his nine games, recording the best rating performance of any player. His Russian team, though, did not perform as expected; fielding six of the tournament's top 17 players by ranking [1], Russia stood in second place, just one point behind Armenia, through the seventh round but lost matches to France (2½-1½), the United States (2½-1½), and, in the final round, Israel (3-1), and ultimately finished sixth. Although they defeated the United States, 2½-1½, in the penultimate round, Israel settled for a tie for third place; the Americans claimed the bronze medal on Buchholz tiebreaks. Hungary, seeded 16th, finished fifth, getting strong performances from third board GM Ferenc Berkes and fourth board GM Csaba Balogh, while India, who entered the tournament seeded second, finished in 30th place, with first board GM Viswanathan Anand's and fourth board GM Shekhar Ganguly Surya's scoring just 50 per cent.

[edit] Team results

The teams finishing first through third overall receive medals, as do those finishing in the top three amongst teams organized by seed; overall medal winners are not eligible to receive group prizes.

[edit] Top ten overall finishers
Place of finish [2] Team Players [3] [4] Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Matches won Matches drawn Matches lost Total score [7]
First Armenia Armenia Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Karen Asrian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian 3 2682 10 3 0 36.0
Second People's Republic of China People's Republic of China Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Zhao Jun 12 2628 8 1 4 34.0
Third United States United States Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Ildar Ibragimov, Gregory Kaidanov, Varuzhan Akobian 7 2656 9 3 1 33.0
Fourth Israel Israel Boris Gelfand, Ilia Smirin, Emil Sutovsky, Boris Avrukh, Alexander Huzman, Victor Mikhalevski 6 2663 9 3 1 33.0
Fifth Hungary Hungary Zoltan Almasi, Zoltan Gyimesi, Ferenc Berkes, Csaba Balogh, Robert Ruck, Adam Horvath 16 2610 7 4 2 32.5
Sixth Russia Russia Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Bareev, Sergei Rublevsky 1 2730 7 2 4 32.0
Seventh France France Étienne Bacrot, Joel Lautier, Andrei Sokolov, Laurent Fressinet, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Christian Bauer 5 2665 7 5 1 32.0
Eighth Ukraine Ukraine Vasyl Ivanchuk, Andrei Volokitin, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Moiseenko, Zahar Efimenko 4 2680 8 2 3 32.0
Ninth Bulgaria Bulgaria Kiril Georgiev, Ivan Cheparinov, Aleksander Delchev, Vasili Spasov, IM [8] Vladimir Petkov , IM Valentin Iotov 10 2633 7 2 4 32.0
Tenth Spain Spain Alexei Shirov, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Miguel Illescas Cordoba, Julien Arizmendi Martinez, Pablo San Segundo Carrillo, Marc Narciso Dublan 11 2628 7 4 2 32.0

[edit] Group prizes

Group A (from amongst teams seeded 1st to 29th)

Team Overall place of finish [9] Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Israel Israel 4 6 2663 33.0
Hungary Hungary 5 16 2610 32.5
Russia Russia 6 1 2730 32.0

Group B (from amongst teams seeded 30th to 59th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Sweden Sweden 17 31 2549 30.5
Slovenia Slovenia 23 32 2545 30.0
Latvia Latvia 28 42 2516 30.0

Group C (from amongst teams seeded 60th to 89th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Italy Italy (team B) 48 70 2371 28.5
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 53 73 2348 28.0
Colombia Colombia 57 62 2437 27.0

Group D (from amongst teams seeded 90th to 119th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Tajikistan Tajikistan 54 106 2215 28.0
Algeria Algeria 69 91 2285 26.5
International Silent Chess Committee 76 90 2308 26.0

Group E (from amongst teams seeded 120th to 148th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Japan Japan 87 121 2139 25.5
Pakistan Pakistan 98 123 2123 24.5
Cyprus Cyprus 103 122 2125 24.0

[edit] Individual results

Individual medals are awarded to the three players to achieve the best rating performance having played at least eight games. Medals are also awarded to the top three finishers, by percentage of points won from total points possible, from amongst those to have played primarily on each of boards one through four (having played at least eight games) as well as to those reserves who have otherwise played at least seven games across all boards, who are classified as playing on boards five and six. Teams typically feature their better players on the lower-numbered boards, but illness, fatigue, and absence often affect playing rotations. Ties are resolved in favor of the player who played more games; where ties remain, the player with a better rating performance is awarded the superior placing.

[edit] Best rating performance
Player [4] Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Principal board played Games played Points scored Rating performance
Vladimir Kramnik Russia Russia 2729 1 9 6.5 2847
Wang Yue People's Republic of China People’s Republic of China 2598 4 12 10.0 2837
Étienne Bacrot France France 2708 1 8 6.0 2833
Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway 2646 1 8 6.0 2820
Sergey Karjakin Ukraine Ukraine 2661 3 11 8.5 2798
Bu Xiangzhi People's Republic of China People’s Republic of China 2640 1 12 8.0 2790
David Navara Czech Republic Czech Republic 2658 1 12 8.5 2786
Vladimir Akopian Armenia Armenia 2706 2 12 9.0 2778
Levon Aronian Armenia Armenia 2756 1 11 7.0 2768
Joel Lautier France France 2682 2 11 8.0 2759

[edit] Board prizes

First board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
Mohyuddin Gillani Tanveer Pakistan Pakistan 2279 8 7.0 87.5
GM [11] Evgenij Ermenkov Palestinian National Authority Palestine 2462 10 8.5 85.0
GM Hichem Hamdouchi Morocco Morocco 2559 10 7.5 75.0

Second board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
IM [8] Josep Oms Pallise Andorra Andorra 2496 11 9.0 81.8
Brian Dew Hong Kong Hong Kong 2147 9 7.0 77.8
IM Eduardo Iturrizaga Venezuela Venezuela 2397 11 8.5 77.3

Third board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
Manuel Larrea Uruguay Uruguay 2278 8 7.0 87.5
GM [11] Rafael Leitao Brazil Brazil 2575 10 8.0 80.0
GM Miguel Illescas Cordoba Spain Spain 2608 9 7.0 77.8

Fourth board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
GM [11] Wang Yue People's Republic of China People’s Republic of China 2598 12 10.0 83.3
GM Robert Zelcic Croatia Croatia 2525 12 9.0 75.0
GM Boris Avrukh Israel Israel 2633 10 7.5 75.0

Fifth (first reserve) board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
FM [12] Basheer Al-Qudaimi Yemen Yemen 2396 7 7.0 100.0
Amer Karim Pakistan Pakistan 2260 8 7.5 93.8
Ali Laith Iraq Iraq 2179 7 6.5 92.9

Sixth (second reserve) board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
Phiri Richmond Zambia Zambia no rating [13] 7 6.5 92.9
Hirawan Pg Mohd Omar Ak Brunei Brunei Darussalam 2335 7 6.5 92.9
Hameedullah Haidary Afghanistan Afghanistan no rating [13] 9 7.5 83.3

[edit] Women's tournament

The women's division was contested by 106 teams representing 102 nations and territories; Italy, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the International Blind Chess Association, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, International Silent Chess Committee each provided one squad; neither Somalia nor Sudan, each of which had registered a team, participated, whilst Afghanistan, Uganda, and Rwanda each withdrew after one round.

Ukraine, who had finished in 18th place at the 36th Olympiad but entered the tournament seeded second, trailed top-seeded Russia by one half-point through the seventh round, despite having taken defeated the Russians in the fifth round, 2-1, but took the tournament lead in the eighth round, defeating Hungary while Russia managed only to halve their match with the United States. Ukraine, behind Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Natalia Zhukova, who scored seven-and-one-half points in her nine games, defeating the top- and second-rated players, Grandmaster (GM) Humpy Koneru of India and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, and third board International Master (IM) Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko, who won six games, drew two, and lost only one, never trailed during the remainder of the tournament, all but securing the gold medal and Vera Menchik Trophy with twelfth round win over India (2½-½) and eventually finishing one-and-one-half points ahead of silver medallist Russia. Defending champion China, on the strength of first board WGM Zhao Xue, who entered the tournament seeded 22nd yet, having played in each round, went undefeated in the Olympiad, conceding only six draws in 13 games, claimed the bronze medal by three points over the United States, with whom the Chinese team drew in the penultimate round to secure third place; the American team, on Buchholz tiebreaks, narrowly outpointed Hungary and Georgia for fourth place. Three double-digit seeds, the Netherlands (seeded 18th, finished seventh), Slovenia (seeded 17th, finished ninth), and the Czech Republic (seeded 22nd, finished tenth), finished in the top ten, while 12th-seeded Poland managed only a 20th place finish.

[edit] Team results

The teams finishing first through third overall receive medals, as do those finishing in the top three amongst teams organized by seed; overall medal winners are not eligible to receive group prizes.

[edit] Top ten overall finishers
Place of finish [14] Team Players [15] [16] Seed [17] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [18] Matches won Matches drawn Matches lost Total score [19]
First Ukraine Ukraine WGM [20] Natalia Zhukova, IM [8] Kateryna Lahno, IM Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko, WGM Anna Ushenina 2 2441 12 1 0 29.5
Second Russia Russia GM [11] Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Tatiana Kosintseva, IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, IM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 1 2499 9 3 1 28.0
Third People's Republic of China People's Republic of China WGM Zhao Xue, WGM Wang Yu, Shen Yang, WFM [21] Hou Yifan 6 2408 8 3 2 27.5
Fourth United States United States of America WGM Anna Zatonskih, IM Irina Krush, WGM Rusudan Goletiani, WGM Camilla Baginskaite 5 2414 7 5 1 24.5
Fifth Hungary Hungary IM Hoang Thanh Trang, IM Ildiko Madl, IM Szidonia Vajda, WGM Anita Gara 4 2426 8 1 4 24.5
Sixth Georgia (country) Georgia IM Nino Khurtsidze, IM Nana Dzagnidze, IM Lela Javakhishvili, IM Maia Lomineishvili 3 2430 7 3 3 24.5
Seventh Netherlands Netherlands GM Peng Zhao Qin, IM Tea Bosboom-Lanchava, FM [12] Petra Schuurman, WIM [22] Bianca Muhren 18 2344 7 3 3 24.5
Eighth Armenia Armenia IM Lilit Mkrtchian, IM Elina Danielian, WGM Nelli Aginian, WIM Siranush Andriasian 7 2402 7 4 2 24.0
Ninth Slovenia Slovenia WGM Anna Muzychuk, WGM Ana Srebrnic, WIM Jana Krivec, WFM Ksenija Novak 17 2348 7 2 4 24.0
Tenth Czech Republic Czech Republic IM Jana Jackova, WIM Katerina Cedikova, WIM Olga Sikorova, WIM Petra Blazkova 22 2299 8 0 5 24.0

[edit] Group prizes

Group A (from amongst teams seeded 1st to 20th)

Team Overall place of finish [23] Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
United States United States of America 4 5 2414 24.5
Hungary Hungary 5 4 2426 24.5
Russia Russia 6 3 2430 24.5

Group B (from amongst teams seeded 21st to 42nd)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Czech Republic Czech Republic 10 22 2302 24.0
Vietnam Vietnam 15 23 2302 23.0
Cuba Cuba 16 26 2289 23.0

Group C (from amongst teams seeded 43rd to 64th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Philippines Philippines 26 60 2083 22.0
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan 36 43 2182 21.0
Canada Canada 41 51 2132 21.0

Group D (from amongst teams seeded 65th to 86th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Indonesia Indonesia 40 68 1986 21.0
Venezuela Venezuela 43 71 1941 20.5
El Salvador El Salvador 49 63 2007 20.0

Group E (from amongst teams seeded 87th to 108th)

Team Overall place of finish Seed [5] Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6] Total score [7]
Algeria Algeria 79 87 1721 17.5
New Zealand New Zealand 80 84 1759 17.5
Nigeria Nigeria 82 82 1723 17.0

[edit] Individual results

Individual medals are awarded to the three players to achieve the best rating performance having played at least eight games. Medals are also awarded to the top three finishers, by percentage of points won from total points possible, from amongst those to have played primarily on each of boards one through three (having played at least eight games) as well as to those reserves who have otherwise played at least seven games across all boards, who are classified as playing on board four. Teams typically feature their better players on the lower-numbered boards, but illness, fatigue, and absence often affect playing rotations. Ties are resolved in favor of the player who played more games; where ties remain, the player with a better rating performance is awarded the superior placing.

[edit] Best rating performance
Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Principal board played Games played Points scored Rating performance
WGM [20] Zhao Xue People's Republic of China People's Republic of China 2423 1 13 10.0 2617
IM [8] Tatiana Kosintseva Russia Russia 2489 2 12 9.5 2598
WFM [21] Hou Yifan People's Republic of China People’s Republic of China 2298 3 13 11.0 2596
GM [11] Antoaneta Stefanova Bulgaria Bulgaria 2502 1 12 9.0 2563
IM Hoang Thanh Trang Hungary Hungary 2487 1 13 9.5 2539
WGM Natalia Zhukova Ukraine Ukraine 2425 1 10 7.5 2537
IM Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko Ukraine Ukraine 2430 3 9 7.0 2531
IM Viktorija Cmilyte Lithuania Lithuania 2470 1 12 9.5 2530
IM Nadezhda Kosintseva Russia Russia 2469 3 10 7.5 2521
IM Irina Krush United States United States of America 2437 2 11 8.0 2512

[edit] Board prizes

First board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
WIM [22] Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko International Blind Chess Association 2263 10 9.0 90.0
WIM Eman Mohammed Iraq Iraq 2118 8 7.0 87.5
WIM Sarai Sanchez Venezuela Venezuela 2176 11 9.0 81.8

Second board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
Fiona Steil-Antoni Luxembourg Luxembourg 1968 12 10.0 83.3
IM [8] Katerina Lahno Ukraine Ukraine 2468 10 8.0 80.0
IM Tatiana Kosintseva Russia Russia 2489 12 9.5 79.2

Third board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
WFM [21] Mohd Saleh Nora United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 1925 8 7.0 87.5
IM [8] Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko Ukraine Ukraine 2430 9 7.0 77.8
IM Lela Javakhishvili Georgia (country) Georgia 2410 11 8.5 77.3

Fourth (reserve) board

Player Team represented April 2006 FIDE rating Games played Points scored Percentage attained [10]
WIM [22] Tatiana Berlin Belarus Belarus 2207 8 7.0 87.5
WFM [21] Hou Yifan People's Republic of China People's Republic of China 2298 13 11.0 84.6
Rahal Mawadda Libya Libya 1601 8 6.5 81.3

[edit] Overall title

The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the entity the average place of finish of which in the open and women's division is the best (where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by single-best finish in either division and then by total points scored); with an average finish of two-and-one-half, the People's Republic of China won the 2006 trophy.

Top ten finishers

Team Open division placing Women's division placing Average placing
People's Republic of China People's Republic of China 2 3 2.5
United States United States of America 3 4 3.5
Russia Russia 6 2 4.0
Ukraine Ukraine 8 1 4.5
Armenia Armenia 1 8 4.5
Hungary Hungary 5 5 5.0
Netherlands Netherlands 12 7 9.5
Georgia (country) Georgia 14 6 10.0
Czech Republic Czech Republic 11 10 10.5
Bulgaria Bulgaria 9 13 11.0

[edit] Participating teams

Squads representing 133 nations, three international organizations, three constituent countries, two autonomous entities, two crown dependencies, two special administrative regions, two insular areas, and one associated state were entered into the Olympiad, comprising 1307 players (some registered players, though, did not play).

Entering teams in the open and women's division were

Entering teams only in the open division were

[edit] FIDE Congress

Concomitant to the chess competition was the 77th FIDE Congress, in which delegates from national chess federations met to transact business. Incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov faced criticisms for alleged mismanagement and corruption, primarily from Western federations, including those of the United States, England, France, and Canada, but, with the support of most Asian and African delegates, notably those representing Russia and Singapore, staved off a challenge from Dutch businessman Bessel Kok to retain his position through 2010, winning 96 votes (to Kok's 54). [2]

The general assembly also awarded the 38th Chess Olympiad, to be held in 2010, to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the site of the 2005 World Chess Cup and one of five locales that made bids. The city led after every round of the exhaustive ballot runoff voting, eventually winning, 71-64, over Budva, Montenegro.

[edit] Associated events

Held in conjunction with the Olympiad, though not officially sponsored by FIDE, were two computer chess events: the 14th World Computer Chess Championship, played at classical time controls, and the 14th World Speed Chess Championship. Deep Junior won its fifth championship and third in five years in the slower event, while newcomer Ikarus defeated four-time defending champion Shredder to win the blitz chess event.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Although commonly referred to as the Men's division, this division is open to both male and female players; only one woman, Grandmaster Zhu Chen, the 2001 women's world champion, played in 2006, representing Qatar.
  2. ^ Where teams share the same total score, they are ordered by Buchholz tiebreak scores, calculated by summing the final scores of each opponent played by a given team. It was on the basis of a superior sum of opponents' scores, 392.5 to 380.5, that the United States claimed third place over Israel.
  3. ^ Players are ordered by board, from first to last, in the same fashion in which they principally played; the fifth and sixth players of each team may have played on higher boards during the Olympiad but played fewer games than the players who primarily occupied the positions.
  4. ^ a b All players are Grandmasters except where a note to the contrary is present.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Teams were initially seeded into the Olympiad on the basis of the average Elo rating of the top four players expected to compose each team; for example, the highest-seeded team, Russia, entered the tournament with an average FIDE rating of 2718, whilst the lowest-seeded team, Somalia, fielded no players with international ratings (and was therefore assessed an average rating of 1600).
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The ratings averaged are those of the top four players expected to compose each team.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Inasmuch as the tournament consisted of 13 rounds, with four games played by each team per round, the maximum number of points one team could accumulate was 52.
  8. ^ a b c d e f IM denotes International Master.
  9. ^ Rank is after the application of tiebreaks, where applicable.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j A player's percentage attained is the fraction of possible points he/she actually earned; a player winning five games, drawing three, and losing two would, having scored 6.5 points over 10 games, achieve a 65 per cent success rate.
  11. ^ a b c d e GM denotes Grandmaster.
  12. ^ a b FM denotes FIDE Master.
  13. ^ a b Players with no rating have not played the required ten rated, FIDE-approved games before the April rating list was issued.
  14. ^ Where teams share the same total score, they are ordered by Buchholz tiebreak scores, calculated by summing the final scores of each opponent played by a given team. Georgia, for example, was placed ahead of the Netherlands because Georgia's opponents finished the tournament having scored 305.5 points, whilst those of the Netherlands scored but 276.5.
  15. ^ Players are ordered by board, from first to last, in the same fashion in which they principally played; the fourth player on each team will have played on a higher board during the Olympiad but will have played fewer games than the players who primarily occupied the positions.
  16. ^ Titles for all FIDE-titled players are provided.
  17. ^ Teams were initially seeded into the Olympiad on the basis of the average Elo rating of their expected players; for example, the highest-seeded team, Russia, entered the tournament with an average FIDE rating of 2490, whilst the lowest-seeded team, Yemen, fielded no players with international ratings (and was therefore assessed an average rating of 1600).
  18. ^ The ratings averaged are those of the top three players expected to compose each team.
  19. ^ Inasmuch as the tournament consisted of 13 rounds, with three games played by each team per round, the maximum number of points one team could accumulate was 39.
  20. ^ a b WGM denotes Woman Grandmaster.
  21. ^ a b c d WFM denotes Woman FIDE Master.
  22. ^ a b c WIM denotes Woman International Master.
  23. ^ Rank is after the application of tiebreaks, where applicable.
Preceded by:
36th Chess Olympiad
FIDE Chess Olympiad
37th (2006)
Succeeded by:
38th Chess Olympiad