With the top two players back, the US Men’s Team defeated Denmark 3-1 with wins by team leaders Kamsky and Onischuk. Nakamura and Kaidanov drew.
The US Women’s Team tied Russia with Russian’s #1 Kosteniuk sitting out. T. Kosintseva defeated Zatonskih while I. Krush defeated his older sister N. Kosintseva. Goletiani drew against Kovalevskaya.
After 8 rounds, these are the women’s standings:
Rank – Standing – Country – Win – Tie – Loss – Points
1 1 Russia 6 1 1 19.0
2 2 Ukraine 8 0 0 18.5 (undefeated so far)
3 5 USA 6 2 0 17.0
4 6 China 5 1 2 17.0
5 3 Georgia 5 3 0 16.5
6 4 Hungary 5 0 3 16.0
7 10 Bulgaria 5 3 0 16.0
8 23 Vietnam 4 2 2 16.0
Round 9 pairings:
China 17 – 19 Russia
USA 17 – 18½ Ukraine
Hungary 16 – 16½ Georgia
Bulgaria 16 – 16 Vietnam
The Overal Standings after 8 rounds:
1 3 Armenia 7 1 0 24.0
2 1 Russia 5 2 1 22.0
3 4 Ukraine 6 2 0 22.0
4 12 China 5 1 2 21.5
5 17 Georgia 7 0 1 21.5
6 7 USA 7 1 0 21.5
7 5 France 5 3 0 21.5
Round 9 pairings:
Ukraine 22 – 24 Armenia
Russia 22 – 21½ France
Georgia 21½ – 21½ China
USA 21½ – 21 Czech Republic
Go USA!!!!!!!!!!!
So far, so good.
What could Have Been. (and still might happen)
The USA Women’s Team is playing great on 3 boards! I just regret what could have been if Susan had only played. With the weak performance of the other teams, USA would have swept the Gold Medal. There was 2 years to prepare for this event and 3 of the USA women sure don’t seem to have suffered from lack of having a year-long organized preparation as the 2004 team had.
Nonetheless, go USA and I hope you get the Gold, just to show what can be achieved, even without the strongest player.
Maybe they had plenty preparation but did not tell you about it. That’s normal sports secrecy.