Chess Olympiad 2008 round 5 live coverage

live news, updates, and reports from Dresden

12:45 CET

Welcome to the day 5 live coverage of the 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiad. Here you will find minute by minute updates on the events in Dresden, underlining important games, bringing you fresh photos from the playing hall, explaining you the new Olympiad rules, sharing interviews, news, and many more details.

Feel free to send us your questions and comments to our contact form.

Round 1: Results Open / Results Women / Live coverage and photos

Round 2: Results Open / Results women / Live coverage and photos

Round 3: Results Open / Results women / Live coverage and photos

Round 4: Results Open / Reslults women / Live coverage and photos

Round 5: Pairing Open / Pairings women / Live coverage and photos

Annotated games: Mamedyarov - Nedev / Kramnik - Sasikiran

12:55 CET

Today the leaders in the competition will see each other on the top boards. These are Germany 1 and Russia in the men section and China - Poland in the women section (all of them with full match points). Here are the pairings that we will closely follow in today's Chess Olympiad 2008 live coverage.

GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2678 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2772
GM Khenkin Igor 2647 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2719
GM Gustafsson Jan 2634 - GM Morozevich Alexander 2787
GM Fridman Daniel 2630 - GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2737

IM Socko Monika 2434 - WGM Hou Yifan 2578
IM Rajlich Iweta 2404 - GM Zhao Xue 2518
WIM Majdan Joanna 2284 - WGM Shen Yang 2450
WIM Przezdziecka Marta 2327 - Tan Zhongyi 2395

Of course we will have frequent updates about all the other derby matches of the day. Armenia with Aronian on board 1 will play against Netherlands of Van Wely. Peter Leko will not have easier task as Hungary will play against Ukraine. Norway, who got a draw against England yesterday thanks to a win by Carlsen, wil have their most difficult match so far - against Azerbaijan with Radjabov and Mamedyarov.

Althout not with full points at this moment, the team of Russia remain favorites in the women section. The World Champion Alexanda Kosteniuk is back on board 1 for a tough match against Georgia. India and Hungary is yet another derby, with Tania Sachdev - Hoang Thanh Trang battle on board 1.

13:15 CET

A lot of fighting chess was seen yesterday in round 4. AP reports, "Ninth seed Armenia, winner of the last Chess Olympiad, held second seed Ukraine to a 2-2 tie in open division play Sunday, drawing all four games in their match in the fourth round of this year's event. The highlight of the day was a 68-move tussle between Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk, rated third in the world, and Armenian Levon Aronian, rated seventh. Both players had their chances in a game that went all the way down to just the two kings on the board when they shook hands."

One of the surprises in the women section was the victory of Indonesia over Greece, who have been performing very well until that moment. Indonesian media reports, "Indonesia's women chess team stunned the Greece team in a dramatic 2.5-1.5 win in the third round of the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, late Saturday. Sixty-seventh seed Indonesia was tied 1.5-1.5 against 19th-seed Greece when Indonesian Kadek Iin outsmarted Alexandra Stiri of Greece in the 47th move to win one crucial point for the red-and-white squad. Indonesia will challenge top seed Russia on Sunday. Team manager Riskie Dharma Putra said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post that cash bonuses would be awarded to the players should they could beat or hold the top seed. "

13:18 CET

England also had their shot after Gawain Jones started well the match. However, Norway was able to come back and equalize.

Today England meet the strong team of Italy. The first board will be for Michael Adams who has a birthday today! Best wishes from the Chessdom team!

13:30 CET

India gets the deserved attention in many mainstream media for their good performance yesterday. Here is what the Times of India write, "Asian champion Tania Sachdev continued her superb form to beat Ketino Kachiani-Gersinka, while Mary Ann Gomes accounted for Sarah Hoolt t o help the Indian women's team beat Germany '1' 3-1 in the fourth round of the 38th Chess Olympiad. However, the Indian men lost narrowly to top seed Russia in the open section after P Harikrishna's heroic efforts that netted him a victory over Peter Svidler went in vain. The 1.5-2.5 loss at the hands of the best team in the Olympiad saw the Indians slip to joint 10th spot on six points out of a possible eight while Russia maintained a clean slate. The lead is now shared by Russia and Germany '1' on eight points each and there are seven teams following them with 7 points in their scoresheet. "

Today India will play against the 54th seeded Austria, while the women will play against Hungary.

GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2694 - GM Ragger Markus 2518
GM Harikrishna P 2659 - GM Kindermann Stefan 2517
GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2603 - IM Atlas Valery 2465
GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2548 - IM Neubauer Martin 2422

IM Tania Sachdev 2425 - GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483
WGM Mohota Nisha 2311 - IM Vajda Szidonia 2380
WGM Swathi Ghate 2320 - IM Madl Ildiko 2376
WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2298 - WIM Schneider Veronika 2315

13:45 CET

Contrary to what is expected, Bulgarian media do not cover yesterday's win of Topalov and Co. The first two disappointing rounds have given a cold shower to the enthusiasm in the media. Surely Bulgaria is still among the favorites for the top 10 (especially with the good performance of Iotov with 4,0/4 and Delchev 3,5/4), but it will take time to gain the interest of the audience there again.

Today Bulgaria have a difficult match against Slovenia in both sections with GM Beliavsky - GM Topalov and GM Stefanova - IM Muzychuk derby matches.

13:55 CET

If you would like to browse around some official photos from the Olympiad click here for the nice photo galleries of Paul Truong and Susan Polgar.

14:15 CET

The match Ukraine - Armenia had the largest penetration among radio and TV stations. The combination of exciting chess and first board action made it the show of the day yesterday. Armenian radio reports, "The men’s chess team of Armenia played a 2:2 draw with Ukraine in the 4th round of the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden. All four games ended in a draw. After four rounds the Armenian team ranks 3rd along with six other teams. Germany and Russia share the first and second places. In the women’s section the Armenian team lost to China 3.5:0.5. The Armenian women’s team is currently 16th with six points. Teams of China and Poland are leading with eight points."

Today both teams have exciting matches on board 1 again. Ivanchuk will play with Leko, while Aronian will meet Van Wely.

14:30 CET

The Olympiad start in 30 minutes, stay tuned for live action from Dresden!

14:45 CET

Interesting pairings of the day:

GM Naiditsch - GM Kramnik
GM Polgar - GM Karjakin
GM Carlsen - GM Mamedyarov
GM Adams - GM Caruana
GM Bu Xiangzhi - GM Aagaard
GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - GM Dominguez Perez
GM Nielsen - GM Zhigalko
GM Ivanisevic - GM Bacrot
GM Kveinys - GM Nisipeanu
GM Movsesian - GM Jobava

IM Paehtz - IM Dembo
GM Kosteniuk - GM Chiburdanidze
WGM Calzetta - IM Peptan
WGM Mamedjarova - IM Maric
IM Fierro Baquero - GM Peng Zhaoqin
IM Cmilyte - IM Houska
GM Stefanova - IM Muzychuk

14:50 CET

10 minutes are left to the start of the games and the playing hall is already full.

15:00 CET

The round has started in Dresden!

15:05 CET

The birthday boy Michael Adams entered in a French Tarrash game against the talented Fabiano Caruana. Magnus Carlsen and Mamedyarov will have a dispute in the English opening, while Gustafsson and Morozevich are going for the Grunfeld exchange.

Judith Polgar one more time employs the Petroff.

15:10 CET

Azerbaijan are quite confident for their game against Norway. They have given a free day to their top board Radjabov. Will they manage to take easy victory here or Norway will prove that this is their Olympiad?

15:15 CET

Curiously enough, Naiditsch and Kramnik have entered the Petroff one more time. A few months ago the German player destroyed Kramnik in a Petroff game. 4th board of the same match, Dmitry Jakovenko - Daniel Fridman is also a Petroff.

15:25 CET

The Gruenfeld Indian defence is obviously in the spotlight again, Veselin Topalov is another top rated player to use it - against Alexander Beliavsky.

15:30 CET

Cudos to Van Wely for entering the ultra-sharp Botvinnik Semi-Slav instead of the "safer" Moscow variation that has been the first choice for most of the elite players.

15:40 CET

Our friend Amiel Rosario, who is also in Dresden, has interesting observations about the press conferences posted on his blog. Meanwhile, his compatriot GM Ian Rogers is blogging on Hits and Misses at the Olympiad over at the USCF website.

15:55 CET

So far, Norway is living up to the promise given by GM-elect Jon Ludvig Hammer. They really do give a hard time to the top rated teams. Few words about the match Norway-Azerbaijan: Magnus Carlsen is currently fighting Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the English opening, one of his favorite "secret weapons" to beat heavyweights, Veselin Topalov included. Simen Agdestein is certainly happy to use the classical Chigorin Ruy Lopez, opening of his youth. Gadir Guseinov is expert for this particular "offbeat" Sicilian variation, but one should remember that Kjetil Lie brought the sensational Norwegian victory over China. Finally, Mamedov-Hammer started as Italian opening, but is now taking the shades of Ruy Lopez pawn structures.

16:15 CET

Peter Dengler interviewed Icelandic coaches Sigurbjon Bjornsson and Omar Salama for the official website:

PD: How is the performance of your teams so far and what are your goals?
SB: Well, there is always some competition amongst the Nordic teams who will be ranked best. There is no goal set by the federation but the players have set that for themselves. However it will be very tough considering for example the lineup of Norway lead by Magnus Carlsen.

16:25 CET

Naiditsch-Kramnik diluted into a draw, but Alexander Grischuk is taking his time on finding response to Igor Khenkin's unusual Queen's Gambit Accepted.

16:45 CET

Fabiano Caruana is expanding on the queenside against Michael Adams. He solved the main problem of the French defence, the light-squared Bishop, but White might become aggressive on the kingside with Ne2-g3-h5. Curiously, on the second board of England-Italy, Nigel Short is using a system in Alekhine defence that was championed by late Tony Miles. Relations between Short and Miles were the best.

16:55 CET

France is struggling against Serbia to find its way back to the top. Thus far, Milos Perunovic and Laurent Fressinet have signed a draw, but Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is pressing against Dragan Solak on board two.

17:15 CET

Maltese top board, IM Torben Sorensen, who chopped of a half point from Poland's GM Bartosz Socko yesterday, lost to 2007 World Junior champion Ahmed Adly of Egypt.

17:30 CET

Big derby Russia-Georgia in the Women section. World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk is trying to make something out of an extra exchange, but Maia Chiburdanidze's position is very robust.

18:00 CET

India takes the lead, GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar - IM Atlas Valery 1 : 0. Also, GM Kjetil Lie held GM Gadir Guseionov to a draw.

18:15 CET

Carlsen-Mamedyarov was an extremely interesting affair, with Magnus sacrificing a piece for three pawns, but the game was eventually drawn. Aronian-Van Wely was another draw, while Ivan Cheparinov seizes full point against Slovenia's Dusko Pavasovic.

18:25 CET

Elisabeth Paehtz and Yelena Dembo drew their game, but Germany secured overall win against Greece with two points on the lower boards. Open section: thanks to Nisipeanu and Vajda, Romania clinches a victory against Lithuania.

18:40 CET

Armenia is leading 2-1 against Netherlands (Sargissian-Stellwagen 1-0). Nigel Short wins with Black for England's advantage, while China is currently holding 1.5-0.5 against the team of respected chess writers - Scotland.

18:45 CET

Maia Chiburdanidze scores with Black against Alexandra Kosteniuk, Monika Socko holds Yifan Hou to a draw.

18:55 CET

Small surprise in the Women section, Uzbekistan is beating higher rated Cuba by 2.5-0.5. Azerbaijan is currently holding Serbia to 1-1.

19:05 CET

Dragan Solak resisted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's assault, but Vlad Tkachiev demolished Bojan Vuckovic on board four, giving a 2-1 lead to France against Serbia. It all comes down to Ivanisevic-Bacrot where Serbian Grandmaster is trying to convert the small endgame advantage.

19:15 CET

England and India secure overall wins against Italy and Austria respectively.

Armenia (ARM) - Netherlands (NED) 2.5 : 1.5
GM Aronian Levon 2757 - GM Van Wely Loek 2618 ½ : ½
GM Akopian Vladimir 2679 - GM Smeets Jan 2604 ½ : ½
GM Sargissian Gabriel 2642 - GM Stellwagen Daniel 2605 1 : 0
GM Petrosian Tigran L 2629 - GM LAmi Erwin 2610 ½ : ½

19:25 CET

Lithuania (LTU) - Romania (ROU) 0.5 : 3.5
GM Kveinys Aloyzas 2533 - GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2684 0 : 1
GM Rozentalis Eduardas 2577 - GM Istratescu Andrei 2633 ½ : ½
GM Sulskis Sarunas 2572 - GM Lupulescu Constantin 2594 0 : 1
IM Zagorskis Darius 2509 - GM Vajda Levente 2582 0 : 1

Serbia (SRB) - France (FRA) 1.5 : 2.5
GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2658 - GM Bacrot Etienne 2705 ½ : ½
GM Solak Dragan 2595 - GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2716 ½ : ½
GM Perunovic Milos 2580 - GM Fressinet Laurent 2676 ½ : ½
GM Vuckovic Bojan 2561 - GM Tkachiev Vladislav 2664 0 : 1

Paraguay (PAR) - Finland (FIN) 1 : 3
GM Bachmann Axel 2555 - GM Nyback Tomi 2639 ½ : ½
GM Franco Ocampos Zenon 2501 - IM Sammalvuo Tapani 2463 ½ : ½
FM Kropff Ricardo 2286 - IM Agopov Mikael 2449 0 : 1
FM Peralta Eduardo 2257 - IM Karttunen Mika 2411 0 : 1

19:30 CET

China draws three games against Scotland, but Wang Hao's victory proved to be decisive for the two match points.

19:50 CET

Bulgaria crushes Slovenia 3.5-0.5, the only draw being Beliavsky-Topalov on board one. Chinese women team makes the same score against Poland.

20:05 CET

Fabiano Caruana upsets Michael Adams with Black, but England still wins 2.5-1.5 over Italy. Sergey Karjakin is back in form after the painful defeat in the second round to beat Judit Polgar's Petroff defence. Ukraine is now looking to a 1.5-0.5 lead over Hungary.

20:30 CET

Azerbaijan, India and Sweden win comfortably 3-1 against Norway, Austria and Croatia respectively. Vietnam resisted to higher rated Cuba, holding them to draws on all four boards. Bosnia and Herzegowina wins ex-Yugoslav derby versus Montenegro thanks to the legendary GM Predrag Nikolic.

20:55 CET

GM Jan Gustafsson finally secures a draw against Alexander Morozevich, thus leaving Germany undefeated in the match against top-seeded Russia! Zoltan Almasi strikes back for Hungary on the third board - current score 1.5-1.5 - while Leko and Ivanchuk are going well over 110 moves in their own game.

21:00 CET

Natalia Pogonina beat Sopiko Khukhashvili to save the day for Russia in the match with Georgia. Ukraine takes a route back to the top after 3-1 versus Austria, but the highlight of the day is England's impressive 4-0 win against strong Lithuania!

21:10 CET

Vassily Ivanchuk wins R+B vs R ending against Peter Leko! This decides the match in favour of Ukraine.

21:15 CET

Top table results in women section:

Round 5 Women on 2008/11/17 at 15.00
Poland POL 0.5 : 3.5 CHN China
Germany 1 GER1 2.5 : 1.5 GRE Greece
Russia RUS 2 : 2 GEO Georgia
India IND 1.5 : 2.5 HUN Hungary
Spain ESP 1.5 : 2.5 ROU Romania
Azerbaijan AZE 2 : 2 SRB Serbia
Ecuador ECU 1 : 3 NED Netherlands
Cuba CUB 1.5 : 2.5 UZB Uzbekistan
Czech Republic CZE 1 : 3 AUT Austria
Ukraine UKR 3 : 1 SVK Slovakia
Lithuania LTU 0 : 4 ENG England
Bulgaria BUL 2 : 2 SLO Slovenia
United States of America USA 3 : 1 NOR Norway (it should be win for Zatonskih on 2nd board)
France FRA 1.5 : 2.5 ARM Armenia (it should be win for Mkrtchian on 2nd board)

21:20 CET

Top table results in open section:

Round 5 Open on 2008/11/17 at 15.00
Germany 1 GER1 2 : 2 RUS Russia
Armenia ARM 2.5 : 1.5 NED Netherlands
Hungary HUN 1.5 : 2.5 UKR Ukraine
Norway NOR 1 : 3 AZE Azerbaijan
England ENG 2.5 : 1.5 ITA Italy
India IND 3 : 1 AUT Austria
Poland POL 3.5 : 0.5 CRC Costa Rica
China CHN 2.5 : 1.5 SCO Scotland
Vietnam VIE 2 : 2 CUB Cuba
Denmark DEN 0.5 : 3.5 ISR Israel
Spain ESP 2 : 2 BLR Belarus
Slovenia SLO 0.5 : 3.5 BUL Bulgaria
Lithuania LTU 0.5 : 3.5 ROU Romania
Serbia SRB 1.5 : 2.5 FRA France
Croatia CRO 1 : 3 SWE Sweden

This concludes our live coverage of the 5th round of the Chess Olympiad. Thank you for following, see you on Wednesday! (18th November is rest day)