Instant Replay: Russia-3, USA-1
January 7, 2010
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Russia and USA faced off in round three of the World Team, Photo Tony Rich of CCSCSL

After a two game winning streak at the World Team Championship, the US Squad was on the other side of the 3-1 score today, with Shulman and Akobian faltering to their Russian opponents. 

CLO updated this article Thursday night with thoughts from Tony Rich from the scene:

"After a strong start in the first two rounds, round three proved far more difficult for the American team.

This round saw the end of perfect scores, as The U.S. team was beaten soundly by Russia, and, in a mild upset, Azerbaijan lost to India. In another upset, Egypt topped Greece, a team that must have had high hopes after their Herculean defeat of Russia in round two. The loss by Azerbaijan helped keep the field even. By match points, the U.S. team stays tied for the top, with a score of 2-1.

The U.S. team seemed to falter in the opening on boards three and four, as Yuri Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian struggled early."

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Watch the games live on the official website at 8 AM EST. For daily game analysis, see Ben's Blog (this round featured Shulman's loss to Malakhov) on the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis website. Also see previous CLO reports on the Opening Ceremony, Round 1 and Robson's Annotations of Round two.