38th Chess Olympiad
The 38th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between 12–25 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany.[2] There were 146 teams in the open event and 111 in the women's event. In total, 1277 players were registered.
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Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Ignatius Leong (Singapore). In a change from recent Olympiads, the number of rounds of the Swiss system were reduced from 13 to 11 with accelerated pairings. For the first time, the women's division, like the open division, was played over four boards per round, with each team allowed one alternate for a total of five players. In another first, the final rankings were determined by match points, not game points. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. Deducted Sonneborn-Berger; 2. Deducted sum of match points; 3. Game points.[3]
The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes their first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first. As a new rule, no draws by agreement were permitted before 30 moves had been completed. Yet there were games drawn as soon as the 16th move, formally drawn by repetition against which there was no rule.[4] In addition, players who were not present at the board at the commencement of a round automatically forfeited the game. This rule was implemented to align chess with other sports events.[5]
Open event
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The open division was contested by 146 teams representing 141 nations. Germany, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Morocco were signed up, but never appeared for their first round match and were disqualified.
Defending champions Armenia, once again led by Levon Aronian, clinched their second consecutive title. Despite being seeded only eighth, they won nine out of eleven matches, drew against fourth-placed Ukraine and lost only (1½-2½) to runners-up Israel, captained by Boris Gelfand. The Israelis finished one point behind Armenia. The United States, led by Gata Kamsky, took the bronze medals on a better tie break score than Vasyl Ivanchuk and the rest of the Ukrainian team after defeating Ukraine (3½-½) in the last round.
Once again, the Russian team under captain Vladimir Kramnik were the pre-tournament favourites but finished disappointingly in fifth place. Kramnik, having recently lost a world championship match, performed well below his rating, as did the rest of the team, except alternate Dmitry Yakovenko who won the reserve board.
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Arguably the biggest surprise of the tournament was Vietnam, who weren't even seeded in the top 30, but still managed to finish in ninth place, aided somewhat by the new tournament structure which allotted them some weaker opponents, although they did manage a 2-2 result against China. The German hosts finished 13th, while India, without World Champion Viswanathan Anand, had to settle for 16th place.
Open event results, #1–#10 # Country Players Average
ratingMP dSB 1 ArmeniaAronian, Akopian, Sargissian, Petrosian, Minasian 2677 19 2 IsraelGelfand, Roiz, Avrukh, Postny, Rodshtein 2682 18 3 United StatesKamsky, Nakamura, Onischuk, Shulman, Akobian 2673 17 362.0 4 UkraineIvanchuk, Karjakin, Eljanov, Efimenko, Volokitin 2729 17 348.5 5 RussiaKramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Yakovenko 2756 16 375.0 6 AzerbaijanRadjabov, Mamedyarov, Gashimov, Guseinov, Mamedov 2709 16 359.5 7 ChinaWang Yue, Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, Wang Hao, Li Chao 2714 16 357.5 8 HungaryLékó, Polgár, Almási, Balogh, Berkes 2692 16 341.5 9 VietnamNguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Lê Quang Liêm,
Dao Thien Hai, Nguyễn Văn Huy, Tu Hoang Thong2539 16 340.0 10 SpainShirov, Vallejo Pons, Illescas Córdoba,
Khamrakulov, San Segundo Carrillo2644 16 337.5 Open event results, #11–end (#146) Rank Country Average
ratingMP dSB dSMP 11 Georgia2618 16 321.0 12 Netherlands2609 15 343.0 13 Germany2647 15 339.0 14 Bulgaria2691 15 327.5 15 England2629 15 320.0 16 India2634 15 310.0 17 Slovenia2583 15 288.0 18 Belarus2602 14 307.0 19 Romania2631 14 306.5 20 Serbia2604 14 302.0 21 Norway2611 14 300.0 22 France2690 14 295.0 23 Cuba2626 14 294.5 24 Greece2585 14 292.5 25 Sweden2576 14 286.0 26 Montenegro2522 14 279.0 27 Croatia2588 14 275.5 28 Canada2500 14 272.5 29 Poland2609 13 301.0 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina2577 13 294.0 31 Slovakia2587 13 290.0 32 Finland2491 13 287.5 33 Estonia2495 13 282.0 34 Lithuania2548 13 278.0 35 Germany "C"2506 13 276.5 122 36 Turkey2496 13 276.5 121 37 Kazakhstan2555 13 272.5 38 Czech Republic2611 13 270.5 39 Denmark2566 13 268.5 40 Iran2524 13 265.0 41 Italy2521 13 261.0 42 Germany "B"2523 13 259.0 43 Moldova2585 13 258.5 44 Latvia2522 13 257.5 45 Austria2486 13 252.5 46 Philippines2526 13 250.0 47 Bangladesh2486 13 249.0 48 Paraguay2415 13 220.5 49 Colombia2459 12 257.0 50 Uzbekistan2557 12 256.5 51 Switzerland2541 12 251.0 52 Indonesia2387 12 249.5 53 Scotland2512 12 249.0 54 Brazil2460 12 240.0 55 Portugal2441 12 237.5 56 Egypt2497 12 232.0 57 Australia2488 12 222.5 58 South Africa2315 12 220.5 59 North Macedonia2525 12 220.0 60 Ireland2452 12 218.5 61 Faroe Islands2364 12 213.5 62 Singapore2352 12 210.5 63 United Arab Emirates2332 12 191.0 64 Iceland2420 11 246.0 65 Pakistan2031 11 234.5 66 Qatar2400 11 225.5 67 Venezuela2444 11 224.5 68 Costa Rica2403 11 223.5 69 Argentina2572 11 221.5 70 Belgium2395 11 215.5 71 Tajikistan2358 11 207.0 72 Ecuador2408 11 206.0 73 Mongolia2372 11 188.5 74 Mexico2423 11 188.0 75 Luxembourg2286 11 177.5 76 Jordan2288 11 175.5 77 Japan2206 11 174.5 78 El Salvador2300 11 173.5 79 ICSC 2305 11 166.5 80 Jamaica2217 11 165.0 81 Wales2263 11 158.0 82 Kyrgyzstan2337 10 222.5 83 Turkmenistan2355 10 200.5 84 Syria2312 10 192.5 85 Iraq2290 10 188.5 86 Bolivia2313 10 183.5 87 Guatemala2263 10 182.5 88 IPCA 2358 10 178.5 89 Algeria2340 10 174.0 90 Dominican Republic2358 10 167.5 91 IBCA 2318 10 166.0 92 Albania2102 10 162.5 93 Panama2206 10 161.0 94 Sri Lanka2169 10 160.0 95 Puerto Rico2228 10 159.0 96 Malaysia2362 10 157.5 97 New Zealand2370 10 152.0 98 Angola2231 10 151.5 99 Lebanon2312 10 150.5 100 Thailand2272 10 140.5 101 Palestine2306 9 177.5 102 Nigeria1988 9 174.0 103 Botswana2185 9 173.0 104 Monaco2275 9 171.0 105 Tunisia2310 9 163.5 106 Yemen2332 9 163.5 107 Afghanistan2095 9 152.0 108 Nepal2022 9 148.0 109 South Korea2068 9 146.5 110 Andorra2256 9 144.0 111 Libya2145 9 141.0 112 Netherlands Antilles2168 9 135.5 113 Malta2177 9 134.0 114 Uruguay2287 9 130.5 115 Jersey1742 9 127.0 116 Nicaragua2238 9 120.0 117 Zambia2082 8 140.5 118 Barbados2142 8 136.0 119 Mozambique1775 8 132.0 120 Uganda2175 8 126.0 121 San Marino1907 8 124.5 122 Cyprus2144 8 120.0 123 Namibia1937 8 116.5 124 Ethiopia1769 8 108.0 125 Trinidad and Tobago2173 8 106.5 126 Guernsey2055 8 97.0 127 British Virgin Islands1952 8 95.5 128 Honduras1968 7 129.0 129 Mauritania2139 7 116.0 130 Suriname2141 7 110.0 131 Kenya2164 7 109.0 132 Hong Kong2023 7 106.0 133 Papua New Guinea1896 7 94.5 134 Macau2020 7 94.0 135 Aruba2034 7 92.0 136 Chinese Taipei1846 7 85.0 137 Bermuda1978 7 81.0 138 Malawi1400 6 116.5 139 Liechtenstein2086 6 88.0 140 Ghana1400 6 77.0 141 United States Virgin Islands1400 6 43.0 142 Gabon1400 5 87.0 143 Fiji1923 5 73.0 144 Seychelles1710 5 68.5 145 Madagascar1400 4 146 Rwanda1608 3
Group prizes
In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam MP dSB A 1–29 Ukraine17 348.5 B 30–58 Vietnam16 340.0 C 59–87 Paraguay13 220.5 D 88–116 Luxembourg11 177.5 E 117–146 Pakistan11 234.5
Individual medals
For the first time, all board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Accordingly, there was no overall prize, although Sargissian on the third board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:
- Board 1:
Peter Leko 2834 - Board 2:
Vladimir Akopian 2813 - Board 3:
Gabriel Sargissian 2869 - Board 4:
Dragiša Blagojević 2792 - Reserve:
Dmitry Yakovenko 2794
Women's section
The women's division was contested by 111 teams representing 106 nations. Germany, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad.
Georgia won their fourth title, 12 years after the third one, narrowly defeating Ukraine on tie breaks. The two teams didn't meet during the tournament, but when the Ukrainians only drew their penultimate match against Serbia while the Georgians defeated former champions China (2½-1½), the gold was Georgia's to lose. In the last round they record a win (3-1) against the Serbian, who thus came to play a crucial role in the fight for the title, despite finishing in seventh place themselves. The Georgian team were led by former World Champion, 47-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, who delivered a stellar performance, winning the top board with the best performance of the tournament.
The United States clinched the bronze medals on tie breaks, just ahead of Russia (with newly crowned World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk) and Poland. The German hosts finished in 21st place.
Women's section results, #1–#10 # Country Players Average
ratingMP dSB 1 GeorgiaChiburdanidze, Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Lomineishvili, Khukhashvili 2476 18 411.5 2 UkraineLahno, Zhukova, Ushenina, Gaponenko, Zdebskaya 2486 18 406.5 3 United StatesKrush, Zatonskih, Goletiani, Rohonyan, Abrahamyan 2396 17 390.5 4 RussiaKosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, N. Kosintseva, Korbut, Pogonina 2495 17 367.0 5 PolandSoćko, Rajlich, Zawadzka, Majdan, Przeździecka 2386 17 364.5 6 ArmeniaDanielian, Mkrtchian, Aginian, Galojan, Andriasian 2397 16 353.0 7 SerbiaMarić, Bojković, Stojanović, Chelushkina, Benderać 2386 16 318.5 8 ChinaHou Yifan, Zhao Xue, Shen Yang, Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi 2486 15 392.5 9 IsraelKlinova, Borsuk, Igla, Vasiliev, Efroimski 2304 15 325.0 10 BelarusSharevich, Popova, Azarova, Berlin, Klimets 2278 15 317.5 Women's section results, #11–end (#111) Rank Country Average
ratingMP dSB dSMP 11 Romania2348 15 306.5 12 Italy2245 15 280.0 13 France2427 14 336.5 14 Hungary2389 14 321.0 15 India2388 14 320.5 16 Slovakia2348 14 299.5 17 Mongolia2161 14 289.0 18 Netherlands2323 14 286.0 19 Bulgaria2375 14 282.0 20 Croatia2259 14 281.5 21 Germany2379 14 279.0 22 Uzbekistan2181 14 267.0 23 Spain2296 14 266.5 24 Greece2317 13 307.5 25 Cuba2289 13 288.0 26 Vietnam2292 13 272.5 27 Austria2231 13 269.5 28 Latvia2264 13 266.5 29 Argentina2260 13 262.0 30 Turkey2184 13 249.5 31 Azerbaijan2261 13 246.5 32 Estonia2174 13 245.5 33 Moldova2246 13 238.0 34 Germany "B"2159 13 236.0 35 Montenegro2242 13 227.5 36 Czech Republic2321 12 270.0 37 Slovenia2359 12 260.0 38 Sweden2317 12 258.5 39 Iran2194 12 258.0 40 Switzerland2210 12 257.5 41 Colombia2179 12 255.5 42 Indonesia2021 12 237.5 43 Philippines2134 12 232.0 44 Luxembourg2185 12 227.5 45 Kazakhstan2240 12 226.5 46 Portugal2145 12 218.0 47 Germany "C"2142 12 208.5 48 Brazil2077 12 196.0 49 Kyrgyzstan2093 12 182.0 50 England2248 11 250.0 51 Lithuania2294 11 239.0 52 Ecuador2223 11 230.0 53 Norway2193 11 224.0 54 Finland2014 11 205.0 55 Dominican Republic2022 11 200.5 56 Scotland1986 11 199.5 57 South Africa1938 11 198.0 58 Turkmenistan2063 11 194.5 59 Bosnia and Herzegovina2110 11 193.0 60 Iceland2029 11 191.0 61 IPCA 2018 11 180.0 62 New Zealand1912 11 174.5 63 Australia2122 10 209.0 64 El Salvador2098 10 199.5 65 Canada2124 10 190.0 66 Mexico2106 10 184.0 67 Venezuela2108 10 178.0 68 Guatemala1920 10 176.0 69 IBCA 2035 10 168.0 70 Denmark2098 10 163.5 71 Bolivia1978 10 162.0 72 ICSC 2130 10 161.0 73 Algeria1936 10 158.0 74 Bangladesh2093 10 156.0 75 Tajikistan1767 10 155.0 104 76 Syria1808 10 155.0 96 77 Albania2004 10 151.0 78 Sri Lanka1850 9 169.5 79 Wales1891 9 145.0 80 Uruguay1882 9 140.0 107 81 Puerto Rico1870 9 140.0 103 82 Lebanon1802 9 139.0 83 Costa Rica1861 9 129.0 84 Paraguay1725 9 127.0 85 Qatar1656 9 121.0 86 Chinese Taipei1556 9 118.5 87 Iraq1706 9 117.5 88 Egypt1842 8 142.0 89 United Arab Emirates1805 8 129.0 90 Angola1506 8 124.0 91 Tunisia1490 8 119.0 92 Yemen1400 8 114.5 93 Botswana1529 8 113.5 94 Ireland1534 8 90.5 95 Barbados1400 8 81.0 96 Japan1621 7 119.5 97 Nigeria1400 7 111.0 98 Honduras1400 7 106.0 99 Suriname1498 7 105.0 100 Malta1731 7 101.5 101 Libya1400 7 92.5 102 Pakistan1400 7 90.0 103 Panama1641 7 82.5 104 Macau1554 7 79.5 105 Fiji1551 7 74.5 106 South Korea1469 7 66.5 107 Trinidad and Tobago1667 7 58.0 108 Aruba1400 6 109 Kenya1400 5 110 Seychelles1400 3 111 Afghanistan1400 1
Individual medals
For the first time, all board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Accordingly, there was no overall prize, although reborn ex-champion Chiburdanidze on the top board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:
- Board 1:
Maia Chiburdanidze 2715 - Board 2:
Anna Zatonskih 2571 - Board 3:
Nadezhda Kosintseva 2591 - Board 4:
Joanna Majdan 2621 - Reserve:
Natalia Zdebskaya 2528
Overall title
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by the same tie breakers as in the two separate events.
The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.
# | Team | MP | dSB |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
35 | 755.0 |
2 | ![]() |
35 | 753.5 |
3 | ![]() |
34 |
Bibliography
- Harald Fietz, Josip Asik, Anna Burtasova: Olympiad United! Dresden 2008. Verlag Schach Wissen, Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-9813348-0-7
Notes
- Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- FIDE Calendar 2008. fide.com
- FIDE Handbook Retrieved on 2012-09-03.
- Dresden 2008. dresden2008.de
- Let the Games Begin in Dresden uschess.org, Mike Klein, 13 November 2008
External links
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