Tomorrow is a day off. There will be no game. However, some big battles will take place on Saturday. On the women’s side,
#1 ranked Russia (in 1st place) will face #4 ranked Hungary (in 3rd place)
#24 Spain will face #2 Ukraine
#29 Mongolia will face #5 USA
#11 Romania will face #7 Armenia
#9 India will face #17 Slovenia
IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2489 (Russia) is performing at 2701 (4.5/5)
IM Peptan, Corina Isabela 2408 (Romania) is performing at 2675
GM Koneru, Humpy 2548 (India) is performing at 2663 (4.5/5)
WGM Muzychuk, Anna 2418 (Slovenia) is performing at 2655
Our own IM Krush, Irina 2437 (USA) is performing at 2593!
On the men’s side,
#8 Holland (2nd place) will face #1 Russia (tie for 1st)
#3 Armenia (tie for 1st) will face #30 Uzbekistan
#31 Sweden will face #10 Bulgaria (without Topalov)
#4 Ukraine will face #51 Iran (yes, you read it right!)
#19 Belarus will face #11 Spain
#12 China will face #7 USA
The big guns are doing a great job!
GM Kramnik, Vladimir is performing at 2960!!
GM Kamsky, Gata is performing at 2896!!
GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam is performing at 2895!!
GM Bareev, Evgeny is performing at 2874!!
GM Grischuk, Alexander is performing at 2866!!
What is the biggest surprise of the Olympiad so far?
Bu Xiangzhi 2640
Zhang Zhong 2640
Zhang Pengxiang 2623
Wang Yue 2598
Kamsky Gata 2671
Onischuk Alexander 2650
Nakamura Hikaru 2664
Ibragimov Ildar 2637
I predict a draw on board 1, a win for the US on board 2, a draw on board 3, and a win on board 4 for China.
Why is it the Chinese team always seem to be perennially underrated?
Russia, will win this Olympiad, but they will fight hard against Ukraine and Armenia.
Kramnik-Svidler-Grischuk-Morozevich-Bareev are simply too much for the others teams.
USA will be fine because of Gata, maybe he will be gold medal in board 1.
Iran has had lucky till now, they played against bad teams, Ukraine will crush them 4-0.
My humble belief in FIDE ratings.
Many FIDE ratings (at IM and below levels) are played within a country.
The ratings of the player from these country mainly reflect from the opponents in their country.
I think Chinese top players are stronger than their FIDE ratings. I belive that is because most of the average Chinese players are stronger than their ratings.
For example, Bu Xiangzhi and Zhang Zhong get their most of the ratings against Chinese players. On the other side Sasikiran and Harikrishna get their ratings against Indian players.
The top players rating reflect, how good they are against thier own countrymen than against other player in the world.
In my opinion, these differences could be reduced, if a lot of games played international level in IM and below-IM players.
The trouble is, making these tournaments are difficult for financial reasons.
Comments are welcome
P. Anandh
I’m shocked that a country such as Mongolia has been able to do this well at womens’ chess!
The biggest surprise for me is veteran GM Manuel Illescas performing at 2844.