The unthinkable almost happened. China 1 came into the final round with a small lead over Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, and Poland. To make things even more favorable, China played Vietnam, a team which has not won a single match. In the mean time, Armenia and Ukraine had to square off against each other while Russia had to face a dangerous China 2 team.
Things couldn’t get better than this. All China 1 had to do was to take care of their own business and nothing else would matter. But China 1 could not pull off a win against a team which they favored by around 300 rating points on every board. In fact, they almost lost and at the end could only score a 2-2 tie.
So it is all up to the others. The final match point for China 1 is 12 points and their board score is 21.5 points. That would mathematically eliminated Armenia from the Gold since the most they could score is 12 points with 21 points board score. However, if Ukraine and Russia could score a 4-0 win, both would jump pass China 1 for the Gold with 12 match points and 22 points board score.
At the end, China 1 team prevailed as Russia could only win by a 3-1 margin over China 2 while Ukraine could only squeak out a 2.5 -1.5 win against Armenia. That meant Gold for China by 1/2 tie break point, Silver for Russia, and Bronze for Ukraine, even though all three teams tie with 12 match points. The Olympiad Champion Georgia came in 4th. The US tied for 8th and 9th.
Congratulations to China, Russia, and Ukraine!
Here are the final round results:
| Bo. | 5 | India |
Rtg | – | 10 | USA | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
| 1.1 | IM | Dronavalli Harika | 2474 | – | IM | Krush Irina | 2458 | ½ – ½ |
| 1.2 | IM | Sachdev Tania | 2405 | – | IM | Zatonskykh Anna | 2462 | 1 – 0 |
| 1.3 | WGM | Karavade Eesha | 2391 | – | IM | Goletiani Rusudan | 2391 | 1 – 0 |
| 1.4 | WGM | Nadig Kruttika | 2273 | – | WIM | Melekhina Alisa | 2220 | ½ – ½ |
| Bo. | 6 | Armenia |
Rtg | – | 4 | Ukraine | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
| 2.1 | IM | Danielian Elina | 2489 | – | IM | Ushenina Anna | 2448 | 1 – 0 |
| 2.2 | IM | Mkrtchian Lilit | 2468 | – | WGM | Zhukova Nataliya | 2457 | ½ – ½ |
| 2.3 | WGM | Galojan Lilit | 2326 | – | IM | Gaponenko Inna | 2438 | 0 – 1 |
| 2.4 | WGM | Aginian Nelli | 2307 | – | WGM | Zdebska Natalia | 2410 | 0 – 1 |
| Bo. | 7 | Russia |
Rtg | – | 3 | China Two | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
| 3.1 | IM | Kosintseva Tatiana | 2536 | – | Tan Zhongyi | 2435 | ½ – ½ | |
| 3.2 | IM | Kosintseva Nadezhda | 2493 | – | WIM | Zhang Xiaowen | 2391 | 1 – 0 |
| 3.3 | IM | Kovalevskaya Ekaterina | 2436 | – | WFM | Ding Yixin | 2321 | ½ – ½ |
| 3.4 | WFM | Gunina Valentina | 2437 | – | Wang Xiaohui | 2223 | 1 – 0 | |
| Bo. | 8 | China One | Rtg | – | 2 | Vietnam |
Rtg | 2 : 2 |
| 4.1 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2585 | – | WGM | Hoang Thi Bao Tram | 2265 | ½ – ½ |
| 4.2 | GM | Zhao Xue | 2542 | – | WIM | Pham Le Thao Nguyen | 2301 | ½ – ½ |
| 4.3 | Ju Wenjun | 2443 | – | WFM | Hoang Thi Nhu Y | 2114 | ½ – ½ | |
| 4.4 | WGM | Huang Qian | 2424 | – | WFM | Pham Bich Ngoc | 2145 | ½ – ½ |
| Bo. | 9 | Georgia |
Rtg | – | 1 | Poland |
Rtg | 3 : 1 |
| 5.1 | GM | Chiburdanidze Maia | 2506 | – | IM | Rajlich Iweta | 2465 | 1 – 0 |
| 5.2 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2535 | – | WGM | Zawadzka Jolanta | 2414 | 1 – 0 |
| 5.3 | IM | Javakhishvili Lela | 2472 | – | IM | Dworakowska Joanna | 2345 | ½ – ½ |
| 5.4 | IM | Lomineishvili Maia | 2378 | – | WGM | Majdan Joanna | 2361 | ½ – ½ |
Here are the final standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | – | TB1 | TB2 |
| 1 | 8 | China One | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 21,5 |
| 2 | 7 | Russia |
9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 21,0 |
| 3 | 4 | Ukraine | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 20,5 |
| 4 | 9 | Georgia |
9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 20,0 |
| 5 | 6 | Armenia |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 18,5 |
| 6 | 1 | Poland |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 17,5 |
| 7 | 5 | India |
9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17,5 |
| 8 | 10 | USA |
9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 16,5 |
| 9 | 3 | China Two | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 16,0 |
| 10 | 2 | Vietnam |
9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 11,0 |
Official website: http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chessen.html
Full results: http://chess-results.com/tnr25011.aspx?lan=1
China A’s fourth board game… not impressive, not impressive at all 🙁
Its interesting that the 5th board player for the top 3 teams did exceedingly well That seemed to make all the difference
Huang Qian 6.0
Gunina Valentina 6.5
Zdebska Natalia 4.5
Either they got lucky in the substitutions or there’s some science behind the subs?
China yall too much!! Where’s Gordon Liu? I gotta go get him for yall! haha.
It is not surprised that China A team was under performed in their last round. Their goal is to get the gold medal. Thus they selected close position opening and decided to draw all games once they spotted that Russian and Ukraine can’t get 4 points.
What say the rules in this case.
It is obviously an arranged 2-2, because board 4 was simply lost.
‘What say the rules in this case.’
The rules are made by the host country.
Anyway, I see no reason not to report this outrage to FIDE and have the chinese girls banned for a year or two.
This would also help USA get a better placing in the end.
‘and decided to draw all games’
The arbiter had no guts to punish them all for winning the tournament?
“The rules are made by the host country.”
The rules are made by FIDE, not host country. The arbiter was FIDE General Secretary I. Leong.
The rules are similar to the rules in Chess Olympia. The team captain can offer draw for the whole team to the other team captain. Certainly you do not have to accept the draw offer, especially when you are winning. If you are not wining, however, what can you do?
What chess law forbids offering a draw, or even resigning in a winning position?? Too much fuss over nothing.
‘FIDE General Secretary I. Leong’
One of the best arbiters in the world he is undoubtedly.
“The rules are made by the host country.”
http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook?id=124&view=article
A member federation is free to introduce more detailed rules……….
Can we propose that cheating is allowed in chess?
How many cheaters are there in the chess world anyways?
If most are cheaters, then why lie to ourselves? If few are, they will get washed down the drain sooner or later, leaving chess as pure as the mountain waters.
‘What chess law forbids offering a draw, or even resigning in a winning position??’
I always offer draw, when I am in a hurry to go somewhere and game not finished. If they refuse, I offer them to resign, if they don’t want I resign myself. Never was a problem with this in local tournaments. Chess is only a game.