The Armenia – Ukraine match was the first to finish. Even though Ukraine can catch Armenia with a win, they chose to take 4 draws, giving Armenia the title.
Congratulations to the Armenian team, the only one who did not suffer a loss.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Why did Ukraine take 4 draws?
GM norm for Egypt’s Shoker!
The Ukraine took four draws because they saw that Russia was not going to beat India. Simply put. Giving the Ukraine’s weak tiebreaks, they would have had to beat Armenia by 3.5-.5 or 4-0. Not going to happen.
Strange wording. Was it a gift by Ukraine? Did they give a cake too?
Seems like both Nakamura and the US team can’t operate functionally without each other.
Naka being tied for last place and the US team being in the bottom half of the field after the final round. Naka will take a beating on his rating as well. He best find a way of qualifying for the WCC since he passed on the World Cup.
The US will no longer be a competitive team if Naka doesn’t play for the US.
It’s sad when the old hand of Yasser comes out of retirement and does better than Hess does. Perhaps Hess is figuring out that Euro and Asian GM’s are a world different than their US based counterparts.
Oh well, now we have the World Cup ahead of us. Perhaps a pool should be established to figure out at which point the US players will be sent home? We might be able to then conjure up the cash for the next Olympiad team so they can be paid more than a pittance.
Hey, that phrase insinuates short draws. All games were over 30 moves.
My guess is that the armenians chose drawish lines and Ukraine was not able to refute.
Yup, the Ukrainian team “chose to take 4 draws”, because if they wanted to they would have easily won 4-0 and became #1.
What chesdrummer said..
It was clearly a package deal 4 draws. Even if Ukraine could not win gold, they could have tried to get the silver. The rule is no draw offer until move 30. Most games ended shortly after 30 moves when there were still plenty of play. Ivanchuk would have never taken a draw in such a position without a pre-arrangement.
Armenia is the best COUNTRY – but MAGNUS is the best PLAYER!
From TWIC
http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/8th-world-team-championship-2011/armenia-take-8th-world-chess-teams-title
The Ivanchuk-Aronian final position was very sharp but balanced. Movsesian-Eljanov and Efimenko-Akopian were drawish. Armenia needed just a draw for the title and Ukraine at least stood a chance of bronze with a draw, especially with Russia messing things up. So the fact that Sarigissian was much better against Moiseenko was probably why the deal went ahead.
The Ivanchuk-Aronian final position was very sharp but balanced. Movsesian-Eljanov and Efimenko-Akopian were drawish. Armenia needed just a draw for the title and Ukraine at least stood a chance of bronze with a draw, especially with Russia messing things up. So the fact that Sarigissian was much better against Moiseenko was probably why the deal went ahead. (from TWIC)
To anon ‘ Armenia is the best Country,but Magnus is the best Player’ BUT ANAND IS THE WORLD CHAMPION!! Ha! Ha!