As of right now, after nearly 5 hours of play, it seems that Russia is on track to win both Olympiads. Ivanchuk dealt China a devastating blow by beating Wang Hao in a brilliant game. There are still plenty of fighting battles left but Russia is holding the edge at the moment.
Update 2: Movsesian just defeated Almasi. Therefore, it may come down to tiebreaks to determine the Gold medal in the Open Olympiad. Ukraine should win Bronze. China, the leader after 10 rounds, will be out of medal contention.
Update 3: Fridman just blundered against Karjakin. Russia will win 3-1. This will help them in the tiebreaks big time as they were in 3rd place prior to the last round.
Update 4: Armenia defeated Hungary. Therefore they are tied with Russia. It will come down to tiebreaks.
Photos from the Chess Olympiad: https://picasaweb.google.com/116302832360230031699/IstanbulChessOlympiad#
Women’s Olympiad:
It will come down to China’s 4th board. If she wins, tiebreaks will decide who wins the Gold and who wins the Silver. Ukraine, just as their men’s team, will secure the Bronze.
Women’s update 2: Kosteniuk’s opponent, in a decent position, hung an exchange. Russia wins 4-0. This may prove decisive for their tiebreaks, even if China wins on the 4th board.
Women’s update 3: China won the last board. Now it will come down to tiebreaks between China and Russia. I think Russia will win because they scored 4-0 in the final round while China only scored 2.5-1.5.
I told Russia is best.