In order to win the team gold in a Chess Olympiad, the winning team must have exceptional performances by at least 2-3 players and a decent performance by at least 1 (or 2) other team member. In this case, even if one player has not so good results, the rest of the team can carry the match.
Let’s examine the individual records of Ukraine and Russia (w).
Ukraine
| 1 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2754 | UKR | 8,0 | 10 | 2890 | 8 | +17,9 |
| 2 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2749 | UKR | 5,0 | 9 | 2710 | 5 | -5,1 |
| 3 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2761 | UKR | 7,0 | 10 | 2737 | 7 | -1,2 |
| 4 | GM | Efimenko Zahar | 2683 | UKR | 8,5 | 11 | 2783 | 8,5 | +14,4 |
| 5 | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2658 | UKR | 2,5 | 4 | 2561 | 2,5 | -4,6 |
Ivanchuk and Efimenko had fantastic individual records and they both won individual medals (Gold for Ivanchuk and Silver for Efimenko). In the mean time, Ponomariov and Eljanov had decent individual performances, just a tad below their ratings, but over 2700. In the case of Eljanov, even with a slightly below par performance, it was good enough for an individual Silver medal as well. Therefore, in spite of a poor performance by Moiseenko, they won team Gold.
Russia (w)
| 1 | GM | Kosintseva Tatiana | 2573 | RUS | 7,0 | 10 | 2628 | 7 | +8,0 | ||
| 2 | IM | Kosintseva Nadezhda | 2565 | RUS | 8,5 | 10 | 2662 | 8,5 | +10,7 | ||
| 3 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2524 | RUS | 6,5 | 10 | 2433 | 6,5 | -7,1 | ||
| 4 | IM | Galliamova Alisa | 2482 | RUS | 5,5 | 7 | 2514 | 5,5 | +5,3 | ||
| 5 | WGM | Gunina Valentina | 2465 | RUS | 6,5 | 7 | 2693 | 6,5 | +14,0 |
Russia had 3 exceptional performances by the Kosintseva sisters and the youngster Gunina. Both Kosintseva sisters won individual Gold medals. Gunina would have won Gold but she was one game shy of meeting the requirement. They basically carried their team. Galliamova also had a good performance, a little better than her rating. Therefore, in spite of a sub par individual performance by Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russia crushed the rest of the field for Olympiad team Gold.
Another factor is board orders. This is so important in Chess Olympiad competition and personal ego should be checked at the door. This is also why strong teams need strong captains and not political or sponsors’ appointments.
Ukraine placed Ponomariov on board 2 even though Eljanov is slightly higher rated. This was an excellent move as Ukraine came away with Gold. Ivanchuk redeemed himself after the last round melt down in Dresden in 2008. Is he getting stronger and better with age? 🙂
For Russia, Kosteniuk’s willingness to play board 3 (unprecedented move as no reigning WC or WWC has ever played board 3 in Olympiad history) paid off big time for Russia. But this was a smart decision and she deserves a lot of credit for doing this. With Kosteniuk on board 1, T. Kosintseva on board 2, and N. Kosintseva on board 3 in 2004 Calvia, 2006 Turin, and 2008 Dresden Olympiad, Russia did not win. But in this Olympiad, they won all matches and dominated the field with T. Kosintseva on board 1, N. Kosintseva on board 2, and Kosteniuk on board 3.
There are many more little factors which contribute to teams’ success in a Chess Olympiad but above are some important ones.
Excellent analysis. Unfortunately, the US and Azerbaijan did not field their A team.
Having long been a fan of Ivanchuk, it was great to see his team win. You have to feel for Svidler, however- if he had only known that Kramnik would win his game, he might not have pressed so hard in his and lost.
Also, amazing performance by the Kosintseva sisters and the rest of the Russian Women’s team. That was crushing, and impressive.
The Kosintsevas are the real chess queens in Russia.
This is the first time EVER that a team won the Women’s Olympiad winnning all matches. This happened before only once, in 1960 in the open section, when the most powerful Soviet Union team of all time won.
Bravo to Kosteniuk for realizing that she’s the 3rd best female player in Russia and stepped aside for her teammates to lead the team. This helped the Russian team. Kudos to team Russia.
Was N. Kosintsevas performance good enough for a GM norm?
She has well over 2,600 performance. However, she only played 1 GM. Therefore, I am not sure how FIDE will count that. I will publish it when I know about it.
1 190 WFM Shamima Akter Liza 2160 BAN 2119 5,5 s 1 1
2 135 WFM Dimitrijevic Aleksandra 2242 BIH 2154 7,0 s ½ 2
3 41 WGM Pokorna Regina 2370 SVK 2250 4,5 s 1 2
4 546 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2451 GEO 2447 5,0 w ½ 2
5 8 WGM Ju Wenjun 2516 CHN 2636 9,5 w 1 2
6 11 GM Zhukova Natalia 2499 UKR 2375 5,0 s ½ 2
7 35 IM Madl Ildiko 2397 HUN 2411 6,5 s 1 2
8 38 IM Tania Sachdev 2382 IND 2381 5,5 w 1 2
9 69 WGM Chelushkina Irina 2325 SRB 2378 5,0 s 1 2
10 80 WGM Voiska Margarita 2314 BUL 2392 5,0 s 1 2
In your analysis of the performances of the Ukranian players you stated
Ivanchuk and Efimenko had fantastic individual records and they both won individual medals (Gold for Ivanchuk and Silver for Efimenko)… Eljanov had decent individual performances
Didn’t Eljanove also win a silver for board 3?
Is Ivanchuk getting better with age? I don’t know…ask Wesley So! 🙂