Ivanchuk held to first draw of Olympiad

Round 8 summary:

Even with the White pieces, Kramnik could not crack Ivanchuk. Karjakin won while Malakhov lost so Russia and Ukraine tied.

1. Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vassily
2. Svidler, Peter ½-½ Ponomariov, Ruslan
3. Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 Eljanov, Pavel
4. Malakhov, Vladimir 0-1 Efimenko, Zahar

Hungary and Azerbaijan had a hard fought draw to maintain medal hope pace.

1. Leko, Peter ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
2. Almasi, Zoltan 0-1 Radjabov, Teimour
3. Polgar, Judit ½-½ Mamedov, Rauf
4. Balogh, Csaba 1-0 Guseinov, Gadir

Armenia squeezed out a 2.5 – 1.5 victory over Poland to catch up with Russia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan for 2nd.

1. Wojtaszek, Radoslaw ½-½ Aronian, Levon
2. Socko, Bartosz ½-½ Akopian, Vladimir
3. Macieja, Bartlomiej 0-1 Sargissian, Gabriel
4. Miton, Kamil ½-½ Pashikian, Arman

Nakamura after a hot start, lost again. But Shulman saved the split with a win on board 4. Curiously, China sat their #1 player, Wang Yue.

1. Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 Wang, Hao
2. Kamsky, Gata ½-½ Bu, Xiangzhi
3. Onischuk, Alexander ½-½ Zhou, Jianchao
4. Shulman, Yuri 1-0 Li, Chao B

Jobava is back on the winning track after a loss to the Ivanchuk buzzsaw. Georgia wins to move up the ladder.

1. Jobava, Baadur 1-0 Zhigalko, Sergei
2. Gagunashvili, Merab 0-1 Teterev, Vitaly
3. Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 1-0 Podolchenko, Evgeniy
4. Gelashvili, Tamaz ½-½ Stupak, Kirill

France handed Russia B its second consecutive loss to keep pace with the leaders.

1. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Nepomniachtchi, Ian
2. Fressinet, Laurent ½-½ Alekseev, Evgeny
3. Tkachiev, Vladislav ½-½ Vitiugov, Nikita
4. Feller, Sebastien 1-0 Timofeev, Artyom

Full results here: http://www.ugra-chess.com/results.php?tmnt=1&rn=8