After 4 draws against Azerbaijan, the U.S. has assured itself at least a bronze, and possibly silver. What’s puzzling is Azerbaijan sat out Radjabov (performing over 2800 in the WTC), and Gashimov,their superstar players!
Congratulations to the U.S. team!
| 9.5 | 9 | UNITED STATES | – | 1 | AZERBAIJAN | ||
| 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2708 | 1/2 |
GM | Guseinov Gadir | 2614 |
| 2 | GM | Onischuk Alexander | 2670 | 1/2 |
GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2741 |
| 3 | GM | Shulman Yuri | 2624 | 1/2 |
GM | Mamedov Rauf | 2640 |
| 4 | GM | Akobian Varuzhan | 2628 | 1/2 |
GM | Mamedov Nidjat | 2610 |
http://wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/lang,turkish/
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Why did Azerbaijan agree to 4 quick draws and eliminate themselves from silver medal?
Looks like they made a deal beforehand to draw.
russia won:)
Somethings not right. I think Radjabov probably wanted Board 1 and they decided not to give it to him. too bad.
You Wrote:”What’s puzzling is Azerbaijan sat out Radjabov (performing over 2800 in the WTC), their superstar player!”
Maybe he wanted to save his ELO achievements instead of a (fixed) draw.
That definitely was an agreed-upon draw. Kind of sad to see something like this happen in an otherwise great tournament. Cannot blame the US as they secured themselves a medal by doing so, however, the attitude of the Azeri team is terrible…
Beelze
Wow silver already,Susan Um being mixed up, is that a typo, what happened to the top guys over there?
If the player list is correct, Azerbaijan played without both Gashimov and Radjabov. They had a real chance at silver, then played their most crucial match without their top 2 board players? THIS DEMANDS A SERIOUS INVESTIGATION!
Why didn’t Nakamura go for a win?