5 September 2016
Russian Women Win Against Hungary
Our men's team lost to Ukraine 1.5-2.5.
In the 4th round of the 42nd World Chess Olympiad, Russian men's team suffered a loss against Ukraine – 1.5-2.5. Ian Nepomniachtchi was first to win his game, beating Anton Korobov, however, soon after that Alexander Grischuk blundered badly against Andrey Volokitin, and Evgeny Tomashevsky cracked under pressure against Ruslan Ponomariov. Ukrainian grandmasters quickly converted their advantage. Pavel Eljanov also had a promising position against Vladimir Kramnik, but took a safe route and secured the team victory with a draw.
Other key matches of the day: India-Cuba 2.5-1.5, USA-Czech Republic 2-2, Romania-Azerbaijan 1-3, China-Italy 3-1, England-Netherlands 0.5-3.5 (!), Belarus-Latvia 2.5-1.5.
The teams of China, Azerbaijan, Netherlands, India, Belarus, and Ukraine are leading with 8 match points. Russia has 6 points.
Our opponent in the round 5 is Egypt.
Russian women's team had a difficult match against Hungarians and barely managed to win it 2.5-1.5. Natalija Pogonina scored the only victory in the match, followed by draws by Aleksandra Goryachkina, Valentina Gunina, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, the latter successfully defending a seemingly hopeless position.
Other scores: Ukraine-France 3.5-0.5, India-Israel 2-2, Azerbaijan-Romania 2-2, Lithuania-Kazakhstan 1.5-2.5, Sweden-Serbia 1-3, Latvia-China 1.5-2.5.
Ukraine, Serbia, Russia, and Kazakhstan are in the lead with 8 points.
In the 5th round Russia will play Kazakhstan.
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili
