Russia, a country with long world-class chess tradition, failed to win the Gold two years ago in Calvia, Spain. Their men’s team tied for 2nd with Armenia, a full three points behind Ukraine! Their women’s team finished third behind China and the US.
This year, the Russians decided to take no chances. They brought their A teams. The Russian teams average more than 50 rating points higher than the #2 seed!
On the men’s side, all 4 of their starters are rated in the top 10 of the Olympiad and all 6 members of the team are ranked in the top 17. 5 of the 6 members are rated above 2700!!
On the women’s side, it is even more lopsided. All 4 members of the team are ranked in the top 10. Anyone of them can play board 1 for most other countries! That is why the Russians are the overwhelming favorites to win the double Gold medals by a wide margin. Anything less would be a real disappointment.
Russian Men’s Team:
#3 GM Svidler, Peter 2743
#5 GM Morozevich, Alexander 2730
#6 GM Kramnik, Vladimir 2729
#9 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2719
#13 GM Bareev, Evgeny 2701
#17 GM Rublevskiy, Sergey 2687
Russian Women’s Team:
#2 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2540
#4 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2489
#7 IM Kosintseva, Nadezhda 2469
#10 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2460
Perhaos this is why many of the top-rated female chess stars chose not to attend. Playing top-level chess while roughing it is never very appealing.
Recalling Susan’s early post:
“In the upcoming Olympiad, 10 top rated female chess stars and superstars will not be competing in Turin, Italy, including 4 of the last 6 Women’s World Champions. I personally dislike some of the ways how the organizer promote the Turin Olympiad but I am sure that is not the reason for the lack of so many top players. I do not know why so many others decided no to compete but I think all countries should send their best players. Perhaps some of you may know of the reasons. One thing for sure, politics and ridiculous rules created by chess politicians should definitely be removed.”
“Anything less would be a real disappointment.”
Ley’s disappoint them!! In both sections!! Go USA!!!
Are the Russians in 1st place now?
Go China, let’s disappoint them
China has a weak(er) team. They left out their best player, Xie Jun.