The biggest upset of the Turin Olympiad in round 1 is the collapse of the Indian Men’s Team. Even without Anand who just finished Mtel, they were the heavy favorite. However, they lost to the Moroccan team with 1 GM, 2 FMs and 1 untitled player scored 3 – 1 against the #2 seed.

I am sure India will bounce back. Just remember that every point counts in the Olympiad. It is very important not to waste even 1/2 point. That is why Anna Zatonskih and I played in all 14 games in 2004 and Irina Krush played 12 / 14 games.

Here is the list of some of the upsets:

#74 Morocco (MAR) – #2 India (IND) 3 : 1

#9 Azerbaijan (AZE) – #81 Mongolia (MGL) 2 : 2
#69 Tunisia (TUN) – #143 Ethiopia (ETH) 2 : 2

#7 USA (USA) – #79 New Zealand (NZL) 2½ : 1½
#90 Algeria (ALG) – #18 Cuba (CUB) 1½ : 2½
#19 Belarus (BLR) – #91 Wales (WLS) 2½ : 1½
#92 El Salvador (ESA) – #20 Czech Republic (CZE) 1½ : 2½
#120 Cyprus (CYP) – #48 Portugal (POR) 1½:2½

In the women’s side, #71 seed Venezuela (VEN) defeated the #19 seed Serbia & Montenegro (SCG) by the score of 2 – 1.
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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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