-- The United States Men's and Women's Chess Teams, officially sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation, made strong showings at the 37th Chess Olympiad, held in Turin, Italy, May 21 - June 4th. While the Men's team captured Bronze and the Women's team finished in fourth place, the combined placing (women and men) was the second highest combined score, behind only China.
The biennial event featured competition among 150 teams from six continents. The U.S. Men's squad was comprised of six Grandmasters: Gata Kamsky from Brooklyn, NY; Alexander Onischuk from Baltimore, MD; Hikaru Nakamura from White Plains, NY; Ildar Ibragimov from Hartford, CT; Gregory Kaidanov from Lexington, KY and Varuzhan Akobian from Los Angeles, CA. Armenia took home the gold with China finishing in second. The US Men's team earned more points than some of the highest ranked teams, including Russia, Ukraine and France.
The biggest scorer of the squad was Alexander Onischuk, the current U.S. Champion. He won four games and drew six with no losses. Also of particular note, Hikaru Nakamura won his last three games, including a victory over Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk that clinched a victory against Russia, the top seed of the event. The youngest on the team at 18-years-old, it was Nakamura's first Olympiad.
Gata Kamsky had a solid, plus one first board performance. He held his own in a field that included "super GMs" Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. Gregory Kaidanov, Ildar Ibragimov and Varuzhan Akobian also contributed to the team's success. Kaidanov won four games and lost only one. Ibragimov scored plus one in his first time representing the U.S. in an Olympiad. Akobian, also playing for the American team for the first time, went plus two and scored a crucial last round victory.
The women's team also had a strong presence at the games, narrowly missing a medal with a fourth place finish. The team included current U.S. Women's Champion IM Anna Zatonskih, Long Island, NY; IM Irina Krush, Brooklyn, NY; WGM Rusudan Goletiani, Westchester, NY; and WGM Camilla Baginskaite, Bay Area, CA. Goletiani and Krush were the big scorers for the team, both scoring plus five. Ukraine captured the gold with Russia and China placing second and third, respectively.
The Kasparov Chess Foundation previously served as official sponsor for the 2004 Women's US Olympiad Team, which took home a silver. KCF will also serve as official sponsor to the US Men's and Women's teams for the next two consecutive Olympiads through 2010.
Founded by World Chess Champion
Garry Kasparov, KCF's mission is to bring the many educational
benefits of chess to children throughout the United States by
providing a complete chess curriculum and enrichment programs. The
Foundation promotes the study of chess as a cognitive learning tool
in curricular classes and after-school programs for elementary,
middle and high schools, both in the public and private school
sectors. The not-for-profit educational organization also organizes
tournaments and competitions on a local and national basis. For more
information, please visit http://www.kasparovchessfoundation.org/
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