Jump to content

40th Chess Olympiad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Alphabet55 (talk | contribs) at 22:49, 9 September 2012 (→Controversies). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Official logo of the 40th Chess Olympiad

The 40th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, takes place in Istanbul, Turkey[2] from 27 August to 10 September 2012. It is the second time the city has hosted the event after having organized the 34th Chess Olympiad in 2000.

Total of 162 teams participated in the open and 131 in the women's section with more than 1,700 players and team captains.[3] Teams are going to be paired in 11 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system. The main competitive events are held at the World Trade Center Istanbul. Chief Arbiter of the event is Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (Greece).

Background

Istanbul was the host-city of the 34th Chess Olympiad in 2000, which marked the beginning of a process of "Chess Boom" in the country. Since then, Turkey hosted more than 100 international chess tournaments, including European Championships, World Youth Championships and Youth Chess Olympiads. The number of members of the Turkish Chess Federation has risen from 3,000 to about 250,000 in only eight years. Ali Nihat Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, is credited to have triggered most of the activities towards this intensive chess development in the country.[4] He was later elected and now serves as a Vice-President of FIDE.

Bidding process

The decision to host the 40th Chess Olympiad made at the 78th Congress of FIDE during 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden in November 2008.[2] Istanbul won the bids by 95-40 votes over Budva.

The Olympiad

The Istanbul Expo Center, the location of the tournament

Competition format

The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for every single game is 90 minutes per 40 moves, with addition of 30 seconds per move, and 30 minutes after the 40th move. It was allowed once again a player to offer a draw during the whole game. Total of 11 rounds were played, in which every team played with four of their players against other team. Every team was allowed to nominate one reserve player.[5]

Teams were ranked according to the match points won in every round. In case of same number of match points by one or more teams, the tie-breaker is decided by applying: 1. The Sonneborn-Berger system; 2. Total game points scored; 3. Sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.[5]

Open event

Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk playing for Russia

The open section of the tournament was contested by 162 teams representing 159 nations. Turkey, as host nation, had three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one team.[6][7]

Armenia, led by world number 2 Levon Aronian, won their third title after previously winning the event in 2006 and 2008. The Russiaan team were once again a clear favourites before the Olympiad but failed to win the gold for the fifth consecutive time and occupied the second place, while the Ukrainian team as a titleholder finished in the third place. Three teams, China, Armenia and Russia, were tied on the top of the standings before the last round of the event with China winning the tie-breaker. But the Chinese players had to play against the Ukraine, led by Vasyl Ivanchuk, while Armenians against Hungary and Russia against Germany. The Armenians and Russians won their final matches but Ukraine edged the leading Chinese team 3-1 preventing them to win a medal. There were only Armenia and Russia with the same match points won in the final standings but Armenians won the tie-breaker taking their third title. Ukraine, thanks to the win in the final round against China, took the bronze medal.

Open event
# Country Players Average
rating		 MP dSB
1  Armenia Aronian, Movsesian, Akopian, Sargissian, Petrosian 2724 19 397.0
2  Russia Kramnik, Grischuk, Karjakin, Tomashevsky, Jakovenko 2769 19 388.5
3  Ukraine Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Volokitin, Eljanov, Moiseenko 2730 18
4  China Wang Hao, Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi, Li Chao 2694 17 390.5
5  United States Nakamura, Kamsky, Onischuk, Akobian, Robson 2702 17 361.0
6  Netherlands Giri, Van Wely, Sokolov, Smeets, Stellwagen 2682 16 329.0
7  Vietnam Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Nguyen Van Huy, Nguyen Doc Hoa, Dao Thien Hai 2589 16 313.5
8  Romania Lupulescu, Parligras, Marin, Vajda, Nevednichy 2600 16 310.0
9  Hungary Leko, Almasi, Polgar, Berkes, Balogh 2708 15 368.0
10  Azerbaijan Radjabov, Safarli, Mamedyarov, Mamedov, Guseinov 2693 15 344.0

Individual prizes

All board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Mamedyarov on the third board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:

Women's event

Chess match in the women's event

The women's event was contested by 131 teams representing 126 nations. Same as the open event, Turkey had three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provide one team.[6][7]

Russia took the gold medal in the women's section to win their second consecutive title. China, led by the current World Chess Champion Hou Yifan took the second place, while Ukraine finished in third place overall. The medal-winning teams were also the only undefeated on the tournament. China and Russia entered the final round against Bulgaria and Kazakhstan respectively tied on the first place with China winning the tie-breaker. The Russian team scored an easy win 4-0 against the Kazakh team, while China faced some problems and edged Bulgaria by a minimum winning score of 2.5-1.5. Both teams were tied again in the final standings, but this time it was Russia winning the tie-breaker to secure their second consecutive title. Ukraine won the last match against Germany 3.5-0.5, thus winning the bronze medal.

Women's event
# Country Players Average
rating		 MP dSB
1  Russia T. Kosintseva, Gunina, N. Kosintseva, Kosteniuk, Pogonina 2513 19 450.0
2  China Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun, Huang Qian, Ding Yixin 2531 19 416.0
3  Ukraine Lahno, Muzychuk, Zhukova, Ushenina, Yanovska 2471 18
4  India Dronavalli, Karavade,
Sachdev, Gomes, Soumya		 2412 17
5  Romania Foisor, Bulmaga, Cosma, L'ami, Sandu 2377 16 313.5
6  Armenia Danielian, Mkrtchian, Galojan, Kursova, Hairapetian 2404 16 313.0
7  France Skripchenko, Milliet, Maisuradze, Collas, Bollengier 2350 15 347.5
8  Georgia Dzagnidze, Khotenashvili, Javakhishvili, Khurtsidze, Batsiashvili 2390 15 344.0
9  Iran Pourkashiyan, Khademalsharieh, Hejazipour, Hakimifard, Ghaderpour 2267 15 339.0
10  United States Zatonskih, Krush, Foisor, Goletiani, Abrahamyan 2419 15 326.0

Individual medals

All board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Nadezhda Kosintseva on the top board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:

Overall title

The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest toal number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by the same tie breakers as in the two separate events.

The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961-78), was created by FIDE in 1997.

# Team MP dSB
1  Russia 38
2  China 36 806.5
3  Ukraine 36 781.5

Controversies

On 24 November 2010, New York Times published an article concerning the possibilities that the Turkish Chess Federation has paid the voters amount of $120,000 in order to win the bids to organize the Olympiad. In the financial report published on the official website of the Turkish Chess Federation there was a footnote, which translated into English points on the allocation of these costs for stand, souvenirs, lobbying activities, as well as accomodation, transportation and food for some of the FIDE delegates to vote for the city.[8] The official answer of the Turkish Chess Federation denied the claim and mentioned that the sum spent is not very big when bidding to host an Olympiad. It was also clarified in the response that the costs were allocated to pay for the Turkish delegates at the FIDE Congress in Dresden, and the expenses documented by invoices testify that no money was given to any of the FIDE delegates and none of the expenses were reimbursed.[8]

In June 2012, Ali Nihat Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, announced that no arbiters from Germany, England, France, Georgia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States would be accepted for the event because of the involvement of those countries in launching or supporting court cases against FIDE, causing financial problems and a loss of distributeable income for worldwide chess development. A few days later, the English Chess Federation sent a protest letter to FIDE, which was later co-signed by the other federations who announced their support.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to all male and female players.
  2. ^ a b Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey, Chessdom.com.
  3. ^ Team starting rank for the 40th World Chess Olympiad, Chessdom.com.
  4. ^ a b Formal protest issued against Turkish Chess Federation, Chessvibes.com, 11 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b FIDE Handbook: Olympiad Pairing Rules, FIDE.
  6. ^ a b Olympiad preview, Chessvibes.com, 22 August 2012.
  7. ^ a b 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad preview, ChessBase, 21 August 2012.
  8. ^ a b Chess Olympiad 2012 sparkles discussion - NY Times article, Chessdom.com.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 40th Chess Olympiad.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=40th_Chess_Olympiad&oldid=511605916"