As a result, Armenia is suddenly tied for first place.
The German loss was attributed to the fact that a number of German photographers arrived from Germany today to photograph their surprisingly first place team. This put pressure on the German players, causing them to lose.
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Several refugees from the Kasparov-Kramnik match arrived from London today, now that the match is over. The press room here is suddenly overflowing. Among the new arrivals are Leontxo Garcia of Spain and Alex Wojtkiewicz of Poland. They say that the press room in Istanbul is much better than the one in London, where no attention was paid to the press at all and the press room in London was not even provided with water to drink.
Things are improving here in Istanbul. In fact, in the bulletins for the seventh round, they even included a complete list of the players and their ratings. Imagine that! After only seven rounds, we already have a players list!
On the political front, the Executive Board of FIDE met today. One of the hottest items on the agenda concerns the fact that Kirsan kicked the traditional Philippines Chess Federation headed by Art Bojral out of FIDE and replaced it with a new Philippines Chess Federation headed by Campomanes. Although most of the strong players in the Philippines seem to support the new group, the USCF has reservations about this because of the implications of summarily kicking out a FIDE recognized group. If in the Philippines they can do it, then everybody can do it.
According to several delegates, the FIDE Commerce proposal has been greatly modified and among other things the politicians will no longer get shares in the profits. I am, of course, deeply disturbed by this, because it means that I will not get my promised share of the financial profits. This modified deal is expected to pass. The US representatives will likely vote in favor of it, even though they have been instructed by the USCF Executive Board to vote against it, on the ground that it has been changed so much it is not really the same deal.
Again, the US delegates tried to have the Grandmaster norms obtained at the Marshall Chess Club in June recognized by FIDE. "No dice", said the FIDE Executive Board.
On the top boards, among men, Germany lost to Ukraine 1.5 to 2.5, Russia lost to Bulgaria 1.5 to 2.5, Armenia wiped out Spain by 3.5 to .5, Hungary beat France 3-1, Romania beat Switzerland 2.5 to 1.5, Israel drew the USA 2-2, England beat Israel 2.5 to 1.5, Netherlands drew Bosnia 2-2, Uzbekistan beat Poland 2.5 to 1.5, Brazil beat Moldova 3.5 to .5, Greece beat Latvia 3.5 to .5, Slovakia drew Estonia 2-2, Denmark beat Cuba 2.5 to 1.5, Georgia beat China 2.5 to 1.5, Kazakhstan beat Croatia 3-1, India beat Slovakia 3-1, Philippines beat Mongolia 3-1, Czech Republic beat Lithuania 3-1.
Standings are: Germany and Armenia are tied for first with 25 points out of 36, followed by Ukraine with 24.5, Bulgaria and Russia with 24, Romania and Hungary with 23.5, USA and Israel with 22.5, Denmark, England, Netherlands, Bosnia, Slovakia, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Switzerland and Greece with 22, Georgia, Spain, Estonia, India, Kazakhstan and Philippines with 21.5.
Among women: China drew Russia 1.5 to 1.5, Georgia beat Armenia 2.5 to .5, Netherlands beat Lithuania 3-0, Ukraine beat Bulgaria 2.5 to .5, Yugoslavia beat Slovakia 3-0, Hungary bear Azerbaijan 2.5 to .5, Romania beat Israel 3-0, Czech Republic beat Poland 2.5 to .5, Spain beat Bosnia 2.5 to .5, Austria beat Vietnam 2-1, USA drew Venezuela 1.5 to 1.5.
Standings are China leads with 21, followed by Georgia with 20.5, Russia and Netherlands with 18.5, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Armenia with 17, Bulgaria, Austria, Spain and Czech Republic with 16.5 and Greece with 16.
The USA is tied for 26th with 14.5 points.
Sam Sloan
[Event "34th Chess Olympiad (men)"] [Site "Istanbul"] [Date "2000.11.06"] [Round "9"] [White "Vaganian, R."] [Black "Shirov, A."] [WhiteElo "2623"] [BlackElo "2746"] [WhiteCountry "ARM"] [BlackCountry "ESP"] [Result "1-0"] [Remark "3601"] [PresId "0000109031"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. e3 Qa5 9. Bd3 Ne4 10. O-O Nxg5 11. Nxg5 Nf6 12. f4 Bb4 13. Rc1 O-O 14. Qe1 Bd7 15. Qh4 h6 16. Nf3 Rfc8 17. g4 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Rxc3 19. g5 Rxd3 20. gxf6 Rxe3 21. Qg4 g6 22. Qh4 h5 23. Qg5 Qb4 24. Rb1 Qa3 25. Nh4 Kh7 26. Rxb7 Rd8 27. f5 exf5 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Nxf5 1-0 [Event "34th Chess Olympiad (men)"] [Site "Istanbul"] [Date "2000.11.06"] [Round "9"] [White "Ponomariov, R."] [Black "Huebner, D."] [WhiteElo "2630"] [BlackElo "2615"] [WhiteCountry "UKR"] [BlackCountry "GER"] [Result "1-0"] [Remark "3594"] [PresId "0000109012"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Bd3 Bd7 12. Nf3 Qc7 13. Re1 Bd6 14. Qe2 Nd5 15. a3 Nf4 16. Bxf4 Bxf4 17. g3 Bd6 18. Rad1 Rd8 19. c4 g6 20. b4 b6 21. Qe3 O-O 22. Qh6 Be7 23. Bf1 Bc6 24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. Qxg5 Bb7 26. Be2 a5 27. Qf6 axb4 28. axb4 Rd6 29. Rxd6 Qxd6 30. Qc3 e5 31. b5 Qc5 32. Qe3 Qxe3 33. fxe3 Rd8 34. Rc1 f6 35. c5 bxc5 36. Rxc5 Rd7 37. Bg4 Re7 38. b6 Kf7 39. Bc8 Ke8 40. g4 Kd8 41. Bxb7 Rxb7 42. Rc6 f5 43. gxf5 gxf5 44. Kf2 f4 45. exf4 exf4 46. Kf3 Kd7 47. Rf6 Ke7 48. Rh6 Kd8 49. h4 Kc8 50. Rc6+ Kb8 51. Kxf4 Rg7 52. h5 Kb7 53. Re6 Ka6 54. Kf5 Rg1 55. Kf6 h6 56. Kf7 Rg5 57. Rxh6 Rc5 58. Rh8 Kxb6 59. h6 Rc7+ 60. Kg6 Rc6+ 61. Kg5 Rc5+ 62. Kf4 Rc4+ 63. Ke5 Rc5+ 64. Kd4 Rh5 65. Ke4 Kb7 66. Kf4 Kc7 67. Kg4 Rh1 68. Kg5 Rg1+ 69. Kf6 Rf1+ 70. Kg7 Rg1+ 71. Kh7 Kd7 72. Rg8 Rf1 73. Kg7 Rg1+ 74. Kh8 1-0 [Event "34th Chess Olympiad (men)"] [Site "Istanbul"] [Date "2000.11.06"] [Round "9"] [White "Svidler, P."] [Black "Georgiev, K."] [WhiteElo "2689"] [BlackElo "2661"] [WhiteCountry "RUS"] [BlackCountry "BUL"] [Result "0-1"] [Remark "3598"] [PresId "0000109022"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. g4 Nfd7 9. Qd2 Nb6 10. O-O-O N8d7 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Kb1 Bb7 13. Ndxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Qc5 15. b4 Qc6 16. Nxd6+ Bxd6 17. Qxd6 Qxd6 18. Rxd6 Na4 19. Kc1 Bc8 20. Bb5 Nc3 21. Bxd7+ Bxd7 22. Kb2 Rc8 23. Bd2 Na4+ 24. Kb3 Bb5 25. Rd4 Nb6 26. Rc1 e5 27. Rd6 Bc4+ 28. Kb2 Na4+ 29. Ka3 Ke7 30. Rd5 Bxd5 31. exd5 Nc3 0-1