Instant Replay: USA Loses Lead But Hunts for Medals |
January 12, 2010 | |
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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. 4029 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
4030 4031 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. |