Double Bronze for U.S. Chess Teams

The U.S. Women's Team, Bronze medal winners at the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Dresdan.

Both U.S. Chess teams finshed strong to win bronze medals at the 38th Chess Olympiad completed yesterday in Germany.

In the Open Olympiad, Armenia defended its 2006 title to win the gold with 19 points. Israel was second with 18. The United States won their last round match against Ukraine, despite being outrated on every board, to take bronze on tiebreak over the Ukraine. Both teams finished with 17 points out of 22 in the 11-round tournament.

In the Women's Olympiad, Georgia and Ukraine, both countries from the former Soviet Union, tied for first with 18 points. The team from Georgia took the gold medals on tiebreak (411.5 to 406.5). The U.S. won the tiebreak over Russia and Poland for the bronze. All three teams finished a point back of the leaders with 17 points.

The scoring system this year was based on two points for each match win and one point for a tie. The U.S. Open (Men's) Team was ranked 10th going into the event and the Women's team was ranked 7th.

Members of the U.S. Open Team (8 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses) were Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian. All five players finished with a winning record. The top three boards each scored 6 1/2 points out of ten games played. Complete results are here.

The U.S. Women's Team consisted of Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih, Rusa Goletiani, Katerina Rohonyan and Tatev Abrahamyan. Complete results for the U.S. Women's team are here.

Anna Zatonskih won the individual gold medal for her 8/10 performance on Board 2. Rusa Goletiana played all 11 rounds and finished with a 9-2 record to take the silver medal for Board 3.

Thank you to Susan Polgar and Rob Huntington (AP) for their fast updates on the tournament. Please go to Susan Polgar's blog for detailed results and many, many photos of the 38th Chess Olympiad.

U.S. Olympiad Teams in the hunt for Medals

Both U.S. Chess teams remain in the hunt for medals at the 38th chess Olympiad currently underway in Dresden, Germany. Each has 15 points out of 20 after ten of eleven scheduled rounds. The final matches will be contested on Tuesday, November 25th.

The Men's (Open) team trails Armenia and Ukraine by two points while the Women's team is behind Poland by the same margin. A total of 156 teams are competing and 152 countries are represented in the Open event. 119 teams are entered in the Women’s tournament.

Here are the standings in the Open Olympiad:
1st (tie) – Armenia (8W, 1D, 1L) and Ukraine (7W, 3D, 0L), 17 points
3rd (tie) -- China and Israel, 16 points
5th (tie) -- United States, Netherlands, Russia and Spain, 15 points

The U.S. Men's team entered the bi-annual tournament ranked 10th on the basis of average FIDE rating. All five of the players have plus scores for the event:
Gata Kamsky (2729) 5.5/9
Hikaru Nakamura (2704) 6/9
Alexander Onischuk (2644) 5.5/9
Yuri Shulman (2616) 4.5/7
Varuzhan Akobian (2606) 4/6

The key loss was an eighth round defeat 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 at the hands of the team from Russia. They will have their work cut out in the final match against Ukraine, where they will be outrated on all four boards:

USA vs. Ukraine, Round 11
Bd. 1 Kamsky vs. Vassily Ivanchuk (2786)
Bd. 2 Nakamura vs. Sergey Karjakin (2730)
Bd. 3 Onischuk vs. Pavel Eljanov (2720)
Bd. 4 Shulman vs. Zagar Efimenko (2680)

In other final round matches, China will play Armenia, Israel is matched up against Netherlands, and Russia takes on Spain.

Here is a link to the round by round results of the U.S. Men's (Open) Olympiad Team.

Here are the standings in the Women's Olympiad:
1st – Poland (8W, 1D, 1L), 17 points
2nd (tie) – Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia, 16 points
5th (tie) – United States (7W, 1D, 2L) and Russia, 15 points

The U.S. Women's team entered the tournament ranked 7th. Like the men, all of the players have plus scores for the event:
Irina Krush 2452 6.5/9
Anna Zatonskih 2440 7.5/9
Rusudan Goletiani 2359 8/10
Katerina Rohonyan 2334 5/9
Tatev Abrahamyan 2286 1/3

The U.S. women lost their key match to Poland 3-1 in Round 9. They will play France in the final round:
USA vs. France, Round 11
Bd. 1 Krush vs. Marie Sebag (2533)
Bd. 2 Zatonskih vs. Almira Skripchenko (2455)
Bd. 3 Goletiani vs. Sylvia Collas (2352)
Bd. 4 Rohonyan vs. Sophie Milliet (2366)

In the other final round matches, Poland will take on Ukraine, Georgia is slated to play Serbia, and Netherlands goes against Russia.

Here is a link to the round by round results of the U.S. Women's Olympiad Team.

New Blog on today.com

Dresden, Germany, is the site of the 38th Chess Olympiad Nov 12-25. Go to my new blog (link below) for results.

I have started a daily blog on today.com.

Subsequent note: I wound up transferring most of the posts to this blog.

Thanks,
Frank

Delilah on Nightline tonight

Delilah will be on Nightline tonight at 11:35 pm to talk about her radio show and promote her new book, "Love Matters".

Here's the link to the ABC website describing tonight's program.

She was recently on Good Morning America and is lobbying to appear on The David Letterman Show in the near future. See what you think...

Delilah's "Stupid Human Trick"

Click on the link above to see something you may not have witnessed before ;)

subsequent note:
Friday, December 12, 2008, 11:58 AM
Delilah was on Good Morning America today. Very nice article and interview!

And finally, this:

Dear Delilah (an actual note from a listener),

My 8 year old daughter and I were on our way home tonight and listening to your show. During your show, you played a Kenny G version of "Little Drummer Boy." I told my daughter that I thought it was crazy to play that song with no drums, only horns and a piano.

She replied, "Instead of calling it 'The Little Drummer Boy,' they should have called it, 'The Little Horny Boy.'"

It took everything out of me to keep a straight face and not laugh. I had to share.

Thanks,

Kay