It seems that no human power can stop the Armenians as they beat Ukraine today in a match that symbolically passed the baton to the possible future gold medal winners. Russia are now full three points behind as they lost to accelerating France. China moved to second scoring unbelievable 4-0 vs Georgia.

With four days to go Armenia hold one point advantage over China and the leaders will play each other in the hit clash of round 10. France, who were not able to beat any of three ex-Yugoslav nations they met in the beginning (Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia), became tycoons those days and beat top seeded Russia courtesy to Fressinet who scored brave victory over Rublevsky. China beat Georgia which is not probably a sensation in itself, but the margin of a win (4-0) is very unlikely to happen in an encounter between top teams. The win hoisted the Chinese up to second position clear 1.5 point ahead of third placed Russia. Devastated Georgia are now in 18th. Czech Republic held USA to a draw which is another valuable result scored by them; their head Navara failed this time and lost to Kamsky, his overall record is still impressive (6/8). India gave Anand the rest (which seems to be fully justified judging by his recent games) and their match with Uzbekistan went on to four draws. Slovenia beat Slovakia in a meeting of two often confused nations (to shed so light on differencies, Slovenia is a country of 2 million citizens, lying near the Adriatic sea and it was part of Yugoslavia prior to 1992; its capital is Ljubljana. On the other hand Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia; it is a country inhabitted by 5 million people, lying south of Poland, its capital is Bratislava).

The Netherlands are plunged in deep crisis as they lost third consecutive match today (they actually recorded no game win those days). Bulgaria deprived of their leader seem to be lacking faith and they lost badly to Moldova today. Azerbaijani fellows are quite unlucky since they get paired with the toughest possible opposition in relation to their moderate rank. As yesterday they faced 6th seeds Israel, today they matched 11th seeded Spain, another struggling side potencially capable of reaching medal zone. There are no good news for English fans - the team scored another modest victory (2.5-1.5 over Mexico) and are ranked 32nd at the moment. Malaysia produced upset of the day beating Switzerland (IM Mas beat Kortschnoj at top board).

In the women's section China held Russia to a draw which cost the Russians the lead as they were overcame by Ukraine who beat USA 2.5-0.5. Georgia are in third as they defeated fourth seeds Hungary 2.5-0.5. 51st seeds Canada caused biggest sensation of the day wiping out 21st seeded Italy 2.5-0.5.

Standings:
Men: Armenia 26.5; Ukraine 25.5; France 24; Russia, USA and Ukraine 23.5
Women: Ukraine 21; Russia 20.5; Georgia 19; China and Bulgaria 18.5; Armenia 18

Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-China; France-USA; Ukraine-Russia; Cuba-India

Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Tim Krabbe's chess diary - not really related to the Olympiad but recommended anyway
Christophe Bouton's blog - a lot of Olympic news and trivia (in French)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

8. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Rublevsky (RUS, 2687)
The following game is no doubt the game of the round. White launches the attack: 23. Nxe6! Bxe6 24. Bxc5 Nxd3 25. Bxd6 Rf7 += White should now continue 26. Rb1! threatening back rank mate, eg. 26... Nf2+ 27. Qxf2 Nd7 (protecting b8 with a tempo) Instead White automatically took back the piece 26. Qxd3 which is not a good choice in itself. 26... Nxe5 27. Nd4?? that's already a blunder, now Ng3+ wins on spot 27... Rxf1?? we can only guess that time pressure was immense 28. Qxf1 Bf7 29. Be5 Bxa2 30. Qf4 Bd5 31. Bxg7!! +- and White won 1-0. A very interesting play but not free of mistakes.


9. Jobava (GEO, 2646) - Bu (CHN, 2640)
Material is balanced but white King is exposed and pawn structure is weak. Black does unpleasant leverage: 25... d4! 26. Qxd4?! perhaps 26. exd4 would cause less harm 26... Rd8! 27. Qe5 f6 28. gxf6 Rd2+ 29. Kg1 Qxh3 and White was only able to delay mate for a few moves. 0-1


18. Dominguez Perez (CUB, 2647) - Jussupow (GER, 2608)
White's obvious plan is to attack h7 but is there any way to drag away defenders? 33. Ng7! g5 now Bc2 protects h7, but there is another problem 34. Nxe6 Re8 35. Qg5+ Bg6 36. Qxg6! 1-0 Black cannot avoid mate: 36... hxg6 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Ng5+#


39. Nijboer (NED, 2584) - Zelcic (SCG, 2525)
Some opening remarks. The game started as follows 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5. Now White should either capture or play Nf3. Instead he chose 4. c4?! which is theoretically known move (of course) but is dubious; c file pawn is usually needed to protect d4 and White can rarely expect to gain advantage. 4... cxd4 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. e6? this is already too extravagant. Pawn sac doesn't seem to be justified. What might work in a scholar tournament is not suitable at 2600 level. 6... Bxe6 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. Be2?! too passive 9... Nf6=+ As it happened, Black defended a pawn and went on for a win. 0-1 in 35 moves.


46. Agdestein (NOR, 2594) - Moradiabani (IRI, 2490)
The unique position: all of white pieces are cramped at d file doubly X-rayed by pair of major black pieces. White is dead lost, but it is not so simple: 42. Nb3? Qc2+? 42... Rc2+ was much better 43. Ka3 a4 44. Kxa4 Ra8+ 45. Kb4 Qa2?! 46. Bxa8 Rxd4 47. Nxd4! now Black cannot capture the Bishop because of 48. Nc6+ +- 47... Qb1+ 48. Rb4 = Position is balanced but all in all Black won after long and fierce fight. 0-1


57. Radjabov (AZE, 2717) - Shirov (ESP, 2699)
White decided not to re-capture but to get control over the centre instead 14. d4! exd4 Not a good choice. Black should not let pair od white pawns control two key squares. 15. Bg5 Qd6 16. cxd4 Be7 17. d5 no time to lose 17... Ne5 18. Bf4 += White is in control of the game, Black has no counterchances. 1-0 after 39 moves.


78. Gonzales Garcia (MEX, 2494) - Speelman (ENG, 2555)
The golden generation of English players is unrelentingly aging. Here Speelman is just a walk-on. 17. e5! dxe5 18. Rxd7 Bxd7? Qxd7 was a must. There is fork now. 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Qxf7+ Black Bishop covers the Queen 20... Kh8 21. Qxg6 Nf6 or 21... hxg5 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxd5+ 22. Nf7+ +- and Black resigned in a few moves. 1-0


87. Escobar Forero (COL, 2429) - Ziska (FAI, 2306)
White's position was dead lost but Ziska played badly under time pressure. The time control has just passed and White played 41. Nf5. The Knight cannot be captured since the Rook is hanging (that is what the Faroese thought). Defence fails: 41... Rd7 42. Qf6+ Kg8 43. Qe6+ Kf8 44. Qxd7 Qc7 45. Qxd2 +-. So - what to do? Black resigned. 1-0. However after 41... exf5 42. Qxd6+ Kg8 43. Rxd2 Qxe4 White has nothing better in sight than a perpetual check. The position is drawn!


89. Mas (MAS, 2412) - Kortschnoj (SUI, 2611)
White's name is not a misprint. He is Malaysian IM who was honoured not only to face legendary Kortschnoj, but he was ballsy enough to win in a brilliant miniature. Black is to move, he should play 18... Qf6 19. hxg7+ Rxg7 20. Kg2 Nxf5 21. Qxf5 Qxf5 22. exf5= Istead Viktor chose suicidal 18... g5? 19. Ng7 Qxh6 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21. Qxf7 1-0
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!


See online games from round 9