The 39th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on September 19 to October 4.[2] Russia has organized the Chess Olympiad three times previously: 1956 (Soviet Union), 1994 and 1998.
Ukraine won the team gold in the open section,[3] while Russia won in the women's event. In individual competition, Emil Sutovsky of Israel, and Inna Gaponenko of Ukraine won the gold medals for best rating performance in both sections, respectively.
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Six cities made the list with their bids to organize the Chess Olympiad 2010: Khanty-Mansiysk, Budva, Buenos Aires, Poznań, Riga, and Tallinn. The selection was part of the FIDE Congress held during the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin in 2006.
The main events in both competitions were held in indoor tennis courts, which opened in September 2008. With an area of 15,558 m2, it hosted 3,500 chess fans.
Teams from 141 chess federations participated in the main event, with Russia entering five teams in the open, and three in the women's section, which is provided with the FIDE regulatives for the event. A total of 1,306 chess players participated, including 242 Grandmasters and 118 International Masters.[4] The event also featured top ranked world player, Magnus Carlsen, playing on top board for his native Norway. The main referee of the Olympiad was Sava Stoisavljevic.
The tournament play was a Swiss-system tournament. The time control for every single game was 90 minutes per 40 moves, with addition of 30 seconds per move, and 30 minutes after the 40th move. For the first time after 2006, a player could offer a draw during the whole game, which was limited for the Chess Olympiad 2008, where a player was not able to offer a draw before the 30th move played.[5]
In the Open section, a total of 149 teams participated. The Russian national team was favored before the competition with the highest average Elo rating of 2749 points, but settled for silver finishing behind the second seeded Ukraine, but ahead of the bronze-medal winning Israel. The first 10 teams are listed in the table below:
In Women's competition, the medals were distributed to Russia (gold), China (silver), and Georgia (bronze), who also were favored before the Olympiad. Russia won its first gold in women's section at the Chess Olympiads, having won all the matches, with a margin of four points ahead of the second placed China. Top ten ranked teams are listed as follows:
| Place of finish | Team | Players | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Russia 1 | Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alisa Galliamova, Valentina Gunina | 1 |
| Second | People's Republic of China | Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Huang Qian, Wang Yu | 2 |
| Third | Georgia | Nana Dzagnidze, Lela Javakhishvili, Meila Salome, Sopiko Khukhashvili, Bela Khotenashvili | 4 |
| Fourth | Cuba | Teresa Oldaz Valdes Lisandra, Oleiny Linares Nápoles, Yaniet Marrero Lopez, Sulennis Pina Vega, Maritza Arribas Robaina | 18 |
| Fifth | United States of America | Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih, Tatev Abrahamyan, Kamile Baginskaite, Sabina-Francesca Foisor | 6 |
| Sixth | Poland | Monika Soćko, Jolanta Zawadzka, Joanna Majdan-Gajewska, Joanna Dworakowska, Beata Kądziołka | 10 |
| Seventh | Azerbaijan | Zeinab Mamedyarova, Turkan Mamedyarova, Gulnar Mammadova, Nargiz Umudova, Khayala Isgaldarova | 26 |
| Eighth | Bulgaria | Antoaneta Stefanova, Margarita Voiska, Adriana Nikolova, Iva Videnova, Maria Velcheva | 12 |
| Ninth | Ukraine | Kateryna Lahno, Natalia Zhukova, Anna Ushenina, Inna Gaponenko, Mariya Muzychuk | 3 |
| Tenth | Russia 2 | Natalija Pogonina, Olga Girya, Anastasia Savina, Anastasia Bodnaruk, Alina Kashinskaya | 5 |
The players, who attained best rating performance during the tournament, won the individual gold medals.
The winners of medals in the open section are:
| Board | Place of finish | Team | Player | FIDE rating | Rating performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | First | Ukraine | Vassily Ivanchuk | 2754 | 2890 |
| Second | Armenia | Levon Aronian | 2783 | 2888 | |
| Third | Russia 2 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2706 | 2821 | |
| Second | First | Israel | Emil Sutovsky | 2665 | 2895 |
| Second | Hungary | Zoltán Almási | 2707 | 2801 | |
| Third | China | Wang Hao | 2724 | 2783 | |
| Third | First | Belarus | Vitaly Teterev | 2511 | 2853 |
| Second | Ukraine | Pavel Eljanov | 2761 | 2737 | |
| Third | Russia 3 | Sergei Rublevsky | 2683 | 2727 | |
| Fourth | First | Russia 1 | Sergey Karjakin | 2747 | 2859 |
| Second | Ukraine | Zahar Efimenko | 2683 | 2783 | |
| Third | Netherlands | Anish Giri | 2677 | 2730 | |
| Fifth (Reserve) | First | France | Sebastien Feller | 2649 | 2708 |
| Second | Poland | Mateusz Bartel | 2599 | 2706 | |
| Third | Czech Republic | Vlastimil Babula | 2515 | 2668 |
The winners of medals in the women's section are:
| Board | Place of finish | Team | Player | FIDE rating | Rating performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | First | Russia 1 | Tatiana Kosintseva | 2573 | 2628 |
| Second | Azerbaijan | Zeinab Mamedjarova | 2234 | 2623 | |
| Third | China | Hou Yifan | 2578 | 2573 | |
| Second | First | Russia 1 | Nadezhda Kosintseva | 2565 | 2662 |
| Second | China | Ju Wenjun | 2516 | 2636 | |
| Third | Vietnam | Pham Le Thao Nguyen | 2304 | 2481 | |
| Third | First | Cuba | Yaniet Marrero Lopez | 2324 | 2511 |
| Second | Georgia | Salome Melia | 2439 | 2458 | |
| Third | Latvia | Ilze Berzina | 2283 | 2450 | |
| Fourth | First | Ukraine | Inna Gaponenko | 2469 | 2691 |
| Second | Russia 2 | Anastasia Bodnaruk | 2399 | 2569 | |
| Third | Israel | Olga Vasiliev | 2293 | 2379 | |
| Fifth (Reserve) | First | Ukraine | Mariya Muzychuk | 2464 | 2431 |
| Second | Russia 2 | Alina Kashlinskaya | 2358 | 2327 | |
| Third | Georgia | Bela Khotenashvili | 2464 | 2289 |
During the Olympiad Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as President of FIDE, defeating his rival Anatoly Karpov decisively 95 votes to 55.[6]
In the first round, the Yemen team refused to play against Israel. Each of the four Israeli players was thus awarded a technical victory.[7]
Three French players were caught in a scheme at this tournament to use a computer program to decide moves. Their plan involved one player, Cyril Marzolo, following the tournament at home and using the computer program to decide the best moves. He would send the moves by SMS to another player, Arnaud Hauchard, who would then stand or sit at various tables as a signal to the player, Sebasian Feller, to make a certain move. Sebastian Feller and Cyril Marzolo were given five year suspensions for this. Arnaud Hauchard was given a lifetime suspension. None of the other players on the French team knew of this or were involved.[8][9]
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