US defeats Iceland in 1st Chess Olympiad round
By ROBERT HUNTINGTON – 9 hours ago
Official website: www.Dresden2008.com
DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — Nearly all top-seeded teams won their matches in the opening round of the Chess Olympiad in Germany on Thursday, although not all by the 4-0 margins that one saw in years past.
Top-seeded Russia, edged past Switzerland 2.5-1.5 on a win from Alexander Morozevich. On board one, 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi held Peter Svidler to a draw. Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, the year in which Svidler was born.
Boards two and three also saw the higher seed winning 2.5-1.5, Ukraine over Vietnam and China over the Philippines. On board four, Azerbaijan crushed Macedonia 4-0.
Fifth seed Hungary suffered a minor upset, drawing all four games against Iran. And sixth seed Bulgaria suffered a major upset losing 2.5-1.5 to the German “B” team.
The U.S. beat Iceland 2.5-1.5.
This year’s tournament is being scored for the first time by match points — with game points used as the tiebreakers — meaning that a such a score was not a setback to the 10th-ranked U.S. team.
On board one, Gata Kamsky of Brooklyn drew with grandmaster Hannes Stefansson. Kamsky equalized with careful defense in the Breyer Variation of the Ruy Lopez, but once the queenside pawns were liquidated, neither side had anything left to play for.
On second board, Alexander Onischuk of Baltimore slowly squeezed grandmaster Hedinn Steingrimsson until he coughed up two pawns in the endgame.
Henrik Danielsen on board three combined threats against the enemy king with a passed pawn on the queenside to defeat Yuri Shulman of Chicago.
On the bottom board, Varuzhan Akobian of Los Angeles picked up a pawn in the opening against international master Stefan Kristjansson and nursed it to victory in the endgame.
Here is the full article.
The report should cover more. This is too basic.
Yay! Iceland!
Wait a minute….