Chess Olympiad round 2 LIVE report

Many teams already have 4 GMs vs. 4 GMs matchups in round 2 already. Therefore, you can start to expect many upsets from now on.

Chess Olympiad 2010 round 2 live
Minute by minute updates from Khanty Mansiysk
Provided by Chessdom

Hello everyone and welcome to the live coverage of round 2 of the Chess Olympiad on Chessdom.com! With minute by minute updates we will be following for you the development before and during the round from Khanty Mansiysk.

The earliest updates will be at the bottom of the page, while for the latest updates refresh the page

12:55 CET

Stephen Solomon is performing very well and has slight initiative against Arman Pashikian. Olympic Champions Armenia to have problems against Australia?

12:47 CET

Akopian and Smerdon sign a draw after 22 moves, game here

12:45 CET

One of the most interesting games so far is Hrvoje Stevic – Veselin Topalov. White has temporary advantage in what looks like a home preparation by Topalov. But how deep is this preparation going? Evaluation is over +1.00, but it is very different how a computer and a human will play this position.

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Nc3 Bxf3 8. gxf3 Qxd4 9. Qxd4 Nxd4 10. Nb5 e5 11. Nc7+ Kd7 12. Nxa8 Bb4+ 13. Kd1 Ne7 14. f4 Rxa8 15. fxe5 Rd8 *

12:30 CET

A 500 ELO points difference on a women board, Kosteniuk is up against Dengler and already with solid advantage.

12:15 CET

Yesterday was the birthday of Mariya Muzychuk. On the ocassion Anna Muzychuk, her sister, gave an interview, click here to read it. Anna comments, “Usually we stay together. And this time it turned out that we are accommodated in different hotels. We play for different teams. She plays for Ukraine and I represent the team of Slovenia.”

12:00 CET

Tatiana Kosintseva is back on board 1 for Russia, currently playing against Elena Boric. In an interview yesterday Kosintseva said, “After the victory in round 1 our team is ready for combat. Our team has repeatedly occupied the top places, and want we to achieve the highest results. But here any team is struggling and the results can be unpredictable,” commented Kosintseva, trying to release the media and public expectations pressure on the team.

Photos of Kosintseva and the Russian team in round 1

11:55 CET

Alexei Shirov and Wesley So are testing Petroff for new horizons, while Carlsen already starts to apply pressure to Luis Galego.

11:45 CET

One of the top encounters in the men section Russia 1 – Serbia is moving at a very slow speed, 9 moves in Vuckovic – Grischuk, and 10 moves in Ivanisevic – Svidler in 45 minutes. The tension in this match is obvious – Russia going for a necessary with while Serbia standing in front of the possibility to make history.

11:15 CET

And as a present to the record audience today at Chessdom, a total of 52 games have been set with live analysis here. Use the scroller to check out all of them and enjoy round 2! Updates at this article will continue all day long.

11:00 CET

And the games are on! Click on the following link to watch Round 2 live with computer analysis!

10:30 CET

It is convenient to note the importance of round 1: teams having perfect 4-0 score tend to get lighter opposition in round 2. For example, Ukraine will play against the 2429 ELO average Scotland. Not an easy match, but let’s compare: Russia, who made 3,4/4 yesterday, will play against Serbia with 2609! Another example, Bulgaria with 3,5/4 will meet Croatia with 2585.

10:15 CET

Round 2 will provide lots of interesting actions as the top rated players will be back to board 1. This will be the first day of GM Magnus Carlsen, Leinier Dominguez, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Veselin Topalov.

10:00 CET

And while we are still talking about future Olympiads, the 2010 Chess Olympiad will decide the host of the 2014 Chess Olympiad. Candidates are Tromso Norway (video report here) and Albena Bulgaria (video report here).

9:50 CET

The journalists in Khanty Mansiysk were highly impressed with the opening ceremony and the organization (as everyone seems to be) and are chasing the players and the accompanying people for interviews. Ali Nihat Yazici, the organizer of the next Chess Olympiad 2012 was particularly impressed, “I could not sleep last night. I was calling my staff in Istanbul telling them, guys, start to work because we should raise the level”. (full video of day 1 here including the interview)

Note: Turkey won the 2012 Olympiad bid in 2008 in Dresden, detailed report from 2008 here

9:35 CET

There were no team upsets in round 1 due to the very high distance in average rating, but that did not prevent individual board upsets, where 2600+ and even 2700 players went down in flames. But this is chess, and the unpredictability of the results is one of the things that defines it as a sport.

Today it is time for the top teams a higher level of motivation and concentration in the struggle for the medals. Who will prevail, we will see live, until then news from Khanty!

9:30 CET

After an exciting first round of the Olympiad. Today again we will be following for you the action live from Khanty Mansiysk, while bringing you at the same time 32 (or more!) live games with computer analysis.