American Open Chess Tournament Tradition Continues
December 09, 2008
The 38th Chess Olympiad, held on November 12-25 in Dresden, Germany, was won, for the second time in a row, by Armenia. Israel's chess team broke a national record by finishing second. The USA team captured the third place of both the men's and women's Olympiad, while the first and second place in the women's Olympiad won by Georgia and Ukraine, correspondingly.
146 chess teams took part in the open event of the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden and 110 teams in the women's competition; making it the most attended Chess Olympiad in history. The 2008 Chess Olympiad also had the strictest rules comparing to previous events. For example, teams that arrived late to a scheduled match were penalized in a technical defeat and draws had to follow at least 30 moves. The new scoring method – 2 points for every team win, 1 point for a draw and a tie breaker that combines the individual and teams scores – advantaged solid players over the aggressive ones in the running to the medals.
Armenia chess team proved solidity and consistency, winning 9 chess of the 11 rounds, overpowering favorites such as Russia and China and scoring 19 points to defend its gold medal. The team most outstanding player, Gabriel Sargissian, was ranked the best individual player according to his combined rating performance score. He was followed by Hungarian Peter Leko and member of the finalist team, Israel's Boris Gelfard. In the Women's Olympiad, it was Georgian Maia Chiburdanidze with the highest rating-performance points.
The 38th Chess Olympiad, held on November 12-25 in Dresden, Germany, was won, for the second time in a row, by Armenia. Israel's chess team broke a national record by finishing second. The USA team captured the third place of both the men's and women's Olympiad, while the first and second place in the women's Olympiad won by Georgia and Ukraine, correspondingly.
146 chess teams took part in the open event of the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden and 110 teams in the women's competition; making it the most attended Chess Olympiad in history. The 2008 Chess Olympiad also had the strictest rules comparing to previous events. For example, teams that arrived late to a scheduled match were penalized in a technical defeat and draws had to follow at least 30 moves. The new scoring method – 2 points for every team win, 1 point for a draw and a tie breaker that combines the individual and teams scores – advantaged solid players over the aggressive ones in the running to the medals.
Armenia chess team proved solidity and consistency, winning 9 chess of the 11 rounds, overpowering favorites such as Russia and China and scoring 19 points to defend its gold medal. The team most outstanding player, Gabriel Sargissian, was ranked the best individual player according to his combined rating performance score. He was followed by Hungarian Peter Leko and member of the finalist team, Israel's Boris Gelfard. In the Women's Olympiad, it was Georgian Maia Chiburdanidze with the highest rating-performance points.