GM Levon Aronian and GM Hikaru Nakamura Photo Tony Rich of CCSCSL
Today at the World Team Championship, the USA lost to Armenia 1.5-2.5 but we've still very much in the medal hunt. On board one, GM Levon Aronian played a very nice game against GM Hikaru Nakamura, who was on an incredible 3000+ performance rating prior to this game.
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Meanwhile, Russia won their match against Egypt, thus moving one match point ahead of the US in the standings. With just one round to go, the US squad is still in a major medal hunt. We have a chance for clear gold if Russia loses to Israel and we win against Azerbaijan. The US almost guarantees silver on a draw (India would need to go 4-0 to contest it-update, it seems that even then we'd win silver on tiebreak!), while the squad even has a good chance for bronze on a loss (if India loses). The game tomorrow starts five hours earlier, at 3 AM EST.
The Armenian team entering the playing hall Photo Tony Rich of CCSCSL
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Friends and competitors: Varuzhan Akobian and Tigran Petrosian Photo Tony Rich of CCSCSL
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Watch the games live on the official website at 8 AM EST. For daily game analysis, see Ben's Blog on the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis website. See previous CLO reports: Robson's analysis of round seven, Nakamura's own annotations of his Gelfand scorcher, Opening Ceremony, Round 1 and Robson's Annotations of Round two.