With 4 rounds to go, Armenia 1st, Russia and Hungary 2nd

Ranking crosstable

Rk.	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Armenia	*	2			2½		2	3½		3½	8	13.5	0
2	Russia	2	*	3			1	3			3	7	12.0	0
3	Hungary		1	*	2½		2½		3½	2		7	11.5	0
4	Ukraine			1½	*	1½	2½			2½	2½	6	10.5	0
5	China	1½			2½	*	2	3½	1½			5	11.0	1
6	Azerbaijan		3	1½	1½	2	*			3		5	11.0	1
7	USA	2	1			½		*		3	3½	5	10.0	0
8	Israel	½		½		2½			*	1½	3	4	8.0	0
9	India			2	1½		1	1	2½	*		3	8.0	0
10	Egypt	½	1		1½			½	1		*	0	4.5	0

Annotation:

Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: The results of the teams in then same point group according to Matchpoints

Armenia back on top, Azerbaijan, China, Russian & Hungary tie for 2nd

Armenia is still the only country which is undefeated so far after 4 rounds. Azerbaijan and China are tied for 2nd on tiebreaks while Russia and Hungary are a little further behind in tiebreak points.

Standings after 4 rounds

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	Armenia	4	2	2	0	6	11.0	0
2	7	Azerbaijan	4	2	1	1	5	9.5	1
3	4	China	4	2	1	1	5	9.5	1
4	10	Russia	4	2	1	1	5	9.0	0
5	6	Hungary	4	2	1	1	5	8.0	0
6	8	Ukraine	4	2	0	2	4	8.0	0
7	9	Israel	4	2	0	2	4	7.5	0
8	5	India	4	1	1	2	3	7.0	0
9	1	USA	4	1	1	2	3	7.0	0
10	3	Egypt	4	0	0	4	0	3.5	0

http://chess-results.com/tnr53136.aspx?art=46&lan=1

Russia maintains World Team Championship lead

Standings after 3 matches:

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	10	Russia	3	2	1	0	5	8.0	0
2	2	Armenia	3	1	2	0	4	7.5	0
3	8	Ukraine	3	2	0	1	4	6.5	0
4	9	Israel	3	2	0	1	4	6.0	0
5	7	Azerbaijan	3	1	1	1	3	6.5	0
6	1	USA	3	1	1	1	3	6.5	0
7	4	China	3	1	1	1	3	6.0	0
8	6	Hungary	3	1	1	1	3	5.5	0
9	5	India	3	0	1	2	1	4.5	0
10	3	Egypt	3	0	0	3	0	3.0	0

http://chess-results.com/tnr53136.aspx?art=46&lan=1

Russia takes over WTC lead

Standings after 2 rounds

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	10	Russia	2	2	0	0	4	6.0	0
2	2	Armenia	2	1	1	0	3	5.5	0
3	7	Azerbaijan	2	1	1	0	3	5.0	0
4	4	China	2	1	1	0	3	4.5	0
5	8	Ukraine	2	1	0	1	2	4.0	0
6	9	Israel	2	1	0	1	2	3.5	0
7	5	India	2	0	1	1	1	3.0	1
8	6	Hungary	2	0	1	1	1	3.0	1
9	1	USA	2	0	1	1	1	3.0	0
10	3	Egypt	2	0	0	2	0	2.5	0

Russian team individual performance

Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Games	RtgAvg
1	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2788	RUS	½	½								1.0	2	2729
2	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2746	RUS		1								1.0	1	2726
3	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	2711	RUS	1	1								2.0	2	2687
4	GM	Svidler Peter	2739	RUS	½									0.5	1	2617
5	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2733	RUS	1	½								1.5	2	2626

http://chess-results.com/tnr53136.aspx?art=46&lan=1

Ready to lead

Evgeny Bareev feels Sergey Karjakin is ready to lead
colin.mcgourty
July 11, 2011 3:38 am

On the eve of the Russian team’s flight to China the head coach, Evgeny Bareev, gave a short interview to the “Sport-Express” newspaper. In particular, he answered a question on who he thinks can represent the Russian team on the first board in the upcoming World Team Championship:

I talked to Sergey [Karjakin]. I had to see if he was prepared to take on such a huge responsibility. It’s not enough for the team leader to play good chess. He has to be ready for the enormous psychological pressure, as after all everyone will be watching to see how the leader deals with our rivals’ best players. After talking to Karjakin I saw that he was ready for that role.

At the same time, Bareev admitted that, “I’m a little nervous to see the answer to the question: how will each of our guys handle the psychological load?”

No-one’s giving me a headache. We’ve got a very good team, with everyone having earned the right to represent Russia. But any new event is a new test, and previous results count for nothing. Moreover, opponents will already be doing special preparation for Nepomniachtchi, who played brilliantly last year.

Russian city of Samara hosts Polugaevsky Memorial

Lev Polugaevsky Memorial

Sunday, 10 July 2011 20:54

The Russian city of Samara is paying a tribute to the legendary Grandmaster Lev Polugaevsky. The Memorial tournament is taking place from 5th to 13th July as a 9-round Swiss competition. The total prize fund is 11300 EUR and the tournament is a qualifier for the 2011 Russian Cup. Denis Khismatullin, Alexander Lastin, Orissa Open winner Aleksej Aleksandrov and Rilton Cup winner Sergey Volkov are the top rated players. GM Pavel Smirnov started furiously with five straight victories and then in the 6th round he conceded the first draw to IM Jakov Geller. GM Semen Dvoirys defeated IM Igor Kovalenko and joined Smirnov on the shared first place. Tournament website

Which country will step up to the plate?

Who will host the chess match?
July 8, 2011
RIA Novosti

India could become Russia’s main competitor in the fight to host the 2012 World Chess Championship, says Berik Balgabaev, Director of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in Russia.

The Indian chess player Vishwanathan Anand, the current world champion, and Boris Gelfand from Israel, winner of the qualifying tournament, are going to lock horns in a battle for the chess crown. Russia put in an official application to the FIDE to organise a match between Anand and Gelfand on 28 June.

The Board Chairman of the Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov, announced that a sponsor, who wishes to remain anonymous, is willing to donate prize money in the region of $2 million for the Moscow match.

“As far as I know, the Indians are taking the application to host the match very seriously”, says Balgabaev. “It’s possible that some other country will also decide to make a bid to host the competition”.

He added that the applications from countries wishing to host the match “have to be made by the end of July”.

One of the most important criteria for the right to host the contest is the amount of prize money on offer.

Source: http://indrus.in

Lev Polugaevsky Memorial

Lev Polugaevsky Memorial
Nine round open from 5th to 13th July in Samara, Russia

The Russian city of Samara is paying a tribute to the legendary Grandmaster Lev Polugaevsky. The Memorial tournament is scheduled to take place from 5th to 13th July as a 9-round Swiss competition.

The total prize fund is 11300 EUR and the tournament is a qualifier for the 2011 Russian Cup. Denis Khismatullin, Orissa Open winner Aleksej Aleksandrov and Rilton Cup winner Sergey Volkov are currently top rated players.

Tournament website (in Russian)

Pre-registered top 25 players:

1 GM Khismatullin Denis RUS 2656
2 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2628
3 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2615
4 GM Lastin Alexander RUS 2617
5 GM Yemelin Vasily RUS 2584
6 GM Maletin Pavel RUS 2570
7 IM Kovalenko Igor UKR 2581
8 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2579
9 GM Kokarev Dmitry RUS 2569
10 GM Dvoirys Semen I RUS 2569
11 GM Smirnov Pavel RUS 2566
12 GM Papin Vasily RUS 2565
13 GM Gabrielian Artur RUS 2546
14 GM Yakovich Yuri RUS 2537
15 GM Shaposhnikov Evgeny RUS 2533
16 GM Kharlov Andrei RUS 2532
17 GM Iljushin Alexei RUS 2528
18 GM Panarin Mikhail RUS 2525
19 IM Geller Jakov RUS 2521
20 GM Chuprov Dmitry RUS 2520
21 FM Nakhapetiane Pogos RUS 2517
22 IM Bukavshin Ivan RUS 2502
23 GM Dzhumaev Marat UZB 2489
24 IM Potapov Pavel RUS 2488
25 GM Iskusnyh Sergei RUS 2481