Armenia 7th, Aronian Wins Silver at Chess Olympiad

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia (A.W.)—On the 11^th and final round of the 2010 World Chess Olympiad, Armenia drew with France (2-2) and finished the tournament in 7^th place. Ukraine, which had a comfortable lead and needed a draw to secure 1^st place, drew with Israel (2-2). In turn, Russia drew with Spain (2-2) and secured 2^nd place. The U.S. team, coached by Armenian grandmaster Varuzhan Akobyan, came in 9^th (see scoreboard below).

In the women’s section, the Armenian team crushed Slovenia (3.5-0.5) and finished the tournament on 11^th place. Russia won the women’s competition, while China came 2^nd. The U.S., which included Armenian chess player Tatev Abrahamyan, finished the tournament in 5^th place.

Aronian wins silver

Individual medals were distributed for best performers on all five boards. Grandmaster Levon Aronian won silver for his performance on the first board with the Armenian team. He had secured 7.5 points during 10 games. The gold medal went to Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who won 8 points during an equal number of games.

The Armenian team won the Chess Olympiad in 2006 in Turin, Italy and in 2008 in Dresden, Germany. It took third place in 2002 and 2004 at Olympiads in Bled, Slovenia and in Calvia, Spain respectively. Armenia hosted the Chess Olympiad in 1996 in Yerevan.

The Armenian Weekly provided detailed coverage of the 2010 Olympiad over the past two weeks.

Standings (top 10 out of 149 teams)

1 Ukraine, 19 points
2 Russia, 18
3 Israel, 17
4 Hungary, 17
5 China, 16
6 Russia, 16
7 Armenia, 16
8 Spain, 16
9 USA, 16
10 France, 16

Women’s section (top 14 out of 115 teams)

1 Russia, 22 points
2 China, 18
3 Georgia, 16
4 Cuba, 16
5 USA, 16
6 Poland, 16
7 Azerbaijan, 16
8 Bulgaria, 16
9 Ukraine, 15
10 Russia-2, 15
11 Armenia, 15
12 Greece, 15
13 Romania, 15
14 Russia-3,  15

(Note: Russia, as the host, had more than one team in the tournament)