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Russia Wins World Team Chess Championship |
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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 16:36 |
 Russia beat Israel 3:1 in the last round of the World Team Chess Championship to successfully close the campaign and take home the gold medal. European Champion Evgeny Tomashevsky and Nikita Vitiugov brought the key points on the boards with white pieces. The team Russia collected 15 match points, having only lost against Greece in round two and tying the match against Armenia in round seven. Vitiugov brought 5.5 points from six games and Vladimir Malakhov contributed 5 points from seven games.
The United States and India finished with 13 match points, but the silver medal goes to the United States thanks to the higher sum of individual points. It was a fantastic run for the young American team, who even held the lead in the Championship until succumbing to the Olympiad winners Armenia in round eight. Hikaru Nakamura was in marvelous form and scored many beautiful wins on the top board. With 6 points from 8 games, he took the gold individual medal, while his teammate Alexander Onischuk achieved the same feat on the second board, with 6.5 out of 9 games. The success is even greater because the US played without Gata Kamsky, one of their best players, who in the meantime won the strong Reggio Emilia tournament.
The well rounded team of India fought hard and deservingly reached the third place and bronze medal. Krishnan Sasikiran held the top board well in the competition with the world's top players, while Asian Champion Ganguly Surya Shekhar contributed a lion's share of points on the third board, where he also claimed the individual gold medal.
Greece played each match until the bare kings and signed four wins and five losses, without draws. They stunned the new World Champion Russia and 2008 Olympiad winner Armenia. The inexperienced but quickly progressing home team of Turkey finished the last, but they are boosting the victory against Olympiad silver medalists from Israel.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan had the best individual result in this Championship, with incredible 8 points on the fourth board.
Round 9 results:
EGYPT 1 - 3 ARMENIA
ISRAEL 1 - 3 RUSSIA
BRAZIL ½ - 3½ INDIA
GREECE 2½ - 1½ TURKIYE
UNITED STATES 2 - 2 AZERBAIJAN
Final standings (match and ind. points):
1. RUSSIA - 15 (24)
2. UNITED STATES - 13 (21½)
3. INDIA - 13 (21)
4. AZERBAIJAN - 12 (22)
5. ARMENIA - 12 (20½)
6. GREECE - 8 (18)
7. ISRAEL - 7 (17)
8. BRAZIL - 4 (12½)
9. EGYPT - 3 (12)
10. TURKIYE - 3 (11½)
Reports, statistics and photos on the official website
 Team Russia playing the final round
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