China silver, Georgia bronze
Russian women team won the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk. After 10 straight victories Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alisa Gallimova, and Valentina Gunina conquered the first place in the women section at the biggest national teams event in chess.
This is the first gold medal for Russia in the women section in post Soviet history. The team of USSR has won the Olympiads from 1957 to 1974 (total 6 golds), then after a pause they won the gold from 1978 to 1986 (total 5 more golds). Now after 24 years Russia wins the first medal, dominating the Olympiad in all rounds.
The team of China win the second place at the Olympiad. Led by Yifan Hou, China played an all or nothing game strategy, winning 9 matches and losing 2. This guaranteed them a sole second place, two points ahead of the rest.
The battle for third continued until the very last moment. Georgia took the bronze medal, finishing with the same points as Cuba, USA, Bulgaria, Poland, and Azerbaijan, but with a better tiebreak.
Read on for photos, interviews, standings, and more.
Medal winners women section
Board 1:
Gold medal Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia 1), 7/10, TPR 2628
Silver medal Zeinab Mamedjarova (Azerbaijan), 9/11, TPR 2623
Bronze medal Hou Yifan (China), 8/11, TPR 2573
Board 2:
Gold medal Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia 1), 8.5/10, TPR 2662
Silver medal Ju Wenjun (China), 9.5/11, TPR 2636
Bronze medal Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Vietnam), 8.5/10, TPR 2481
Board 3:
Gold medal Yaniet Marrero Lopez (Cuba), 7/8, TPR 2511
Silver medal Salome Melia (Georgia), 7/10, TPR 2458
Bronze medal Ilze Berzina (Latvia), 9/11, TPR 2450
Board 4:
Gold medal Inna Gaponenko (Ukraine), 7.5/8, TPR 2691
Silver medal Anastasia Bodnaruk (Russia 2), 7/8, TPR 2569
Bronze medal Olga Vasiliev (Israel), 7/9, TPR 2379
Board 5:
Gold medal Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), 6.5/9, TPR 2431
Silver medal Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia 2), 5.5/9, TPR 2327
Bronze medal Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia), 5/8, TPR 2289
Stay tuned for more information
Chess Olympiad 2010 information / Venue / History / Teams / Live games
The women’s team Russia-1 in its complete composition with Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alisa Galliamova and Valentina Gunina as well as their captain Yury Dohoyan and their coaches Alexey Korotylev and Alexander Chernin shared their impressions on the great Olympic victory at a press conference.
– What do you feel now?
Tatiana Kosintseva: We are happy that we have finally managed to win the Olympiad. We have gotten tired for these past days but at the moment I am full of the most positive emotions. We all tried to do our best fighting for the victory and worrying for each match and round.
Nadezhda Kosintseva: The match is over and I am still thinking over some variations in my head. I do not realize yet that we are champions. You will be surprised but I am eager to analyze the game, have a rest and then I will be able to realize that we did it.
Alexandra Kosteniuk: I share the words of Tatiana and Nadezhda. We are really very happy. It was a long way to this victory.
Valentina Gunina: Only at the moment when people started congratulating us I began to realize that we have achieved something great.
– How come that the tournament had such an ideal scenario for your team? 10 victories in 10 rounds – did you expect it yourself?
Yury Dohoyan: I do not want to reveal our secret to give the opportunity to other teams to get closer to our result. The team demonstrated their outrageous desire to fight and strong performance one round before the end of the Olympiad: 10 victories out of 10 possible. Having no mercy neither on them nor on their opponents, the girls demonstrated their capacities. It concerns our coaches as well. I think we still have to continue improving.
Alexandra Kosteniuk: The girls turned out to be one head above their opponents thus having established a solid future as professionals. If the women’s team has limits than we do not know where they are. Our team has great perspectives. Some people may say that girls were lucky. Probably it was the case in some matches, but this is the consequence of their first-class performance and immense wish to fight. I would like to congratulate our girls on the victory – they have done their maximum and demonstrated that the Russian Chess School is very strong.
Alexander Chernin.: For my 50-year experience I have not seen such a united team. It would have been strange if they did not win. I think that taking into consideration the tender age of the girls, the team has a future.
– Can you think of the most outstanding and distressing moment for the whole period of your stay in Khanty-Mansiysk?
Valentina Gunina: As for me the most worrying moment was the match with Serbia that was not that smooth for us. Do you remember that Nadya did not have the best position? However, then she showed the best play and finally we won.
Tatiana Kosintseva: The brightest and the most anxious moment for me was the match against India. In one move Harika Dronavalli blundered her bishop and then we won the match. We faced such moments rather often during the tournament…
Nadezhda Kosintseva: In the match with Serbia I played my weakest game for the whole Olympiad. It seems that due to the fact that I was tired I could not show the descent play. My pieces were strained to the 8th horizontal from all sides and the fact that it is the team’s tournament saved me from resigning. Here the Fortune made me a present: my opponent blundered a very simple tactics. In all the matches we were fighting till the end and it enabled us to show the present result.
Alexandra Kosteniuk: When you play in such a tournament it is natural that you are nervous. Because if you play poorly, you let down not only yourself and your team aswell. I had two defeats in this tournament – in the matches against China and Serbia. Every time when I looked at the neighboring boards I realized that our team was leading. It is important to feel this support, reliable shoulder and a mutual help – it gives only positive results.
Alisa Galliamova: Personally, all the games were difficult – I feel the lack of training. This was the reason that I was “sleeping” in the first two rounds. Then I said to myself – it is enough. I started playing strongly and faster and began scoring. The psychological tension was increasing because by the moment we had already played against the main opponents – China, Georgia and Ukraine. Having won these matches it seemed that it would be easier to play from that moment on because we were to play with weaker opponents. It was not the case! Every national team comes to the Olympiad only to win and fights till the end, but, as we know, only the strongest are lucky.
– The leadership of the Russian Chess Federation has been changed recently. Did it somehow influence the preparation of the team for the Olympiad?
Yury Dohoyan: I cannot say that it took us one day to compose the team, we started it under the previous leadership of the RCF and finalized under the present one. Accordingly, the preparation for the Olympiad was very thoroughly thought over. Ever since I am the chief coach in the women’s chess and a captain, we were choosing the players in the process of improving and achieving the maximum result. From the point of view of the training process, everything was done correctly.
I hope that after this Olympiad the Russian Chess Federation will pay more attention to women’s chess. This is because we all have witnessed that girls deserve to be supported financially.
– Will you let them go dancing tonight?
Yury Dohoyan: I think a professional does not come here to go out to such parties as “Bermuda”, but to show qualified performance. Therefore he does not have a right to waste his potential and emotions to entertain during the tournament. He is welcome to do that after it. However, I cannot forbid anything to the girls – they have already devoted their life to chess and they are responsible for their actions. I noticed that many strong players did not manage to perform decently in the next round after the fruitful relaxation at the “Bermuda party”.
As for tonight we have many plans. I think we will celebrate “gold” together with the management of the federation. They will have time to dance.
– Alexandra, is it difficult for you to have such a severe coach?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: His severe look does not frighten us at all, it makes our opponents fear. The Champion is supposed to frighten not only by its way of playing but also by its severe look (laughing). It is not the first time that we play in such a composition and we know somewhere deep in our hearts that our captain is very much worried for us.
Yury Dohoyan: This strict expression on my face is to keep the girls in a good shape. There was a moment when the psychological tension was especially strong however we managed to cope with it with minimum sacrifices. Yes, we are tired, but our team is the unification of the best criteria only – youth, maturity and experience. This is the reason we have won this Olympiad.
– How did you spend your first rest day?
Valentina Gunina: I had a chance to do some horse riding and I am very happy about that. Before I used to do it with my father – he was walking nearby and I was just sitting. This time they let me do it on my own and it was unforgettable.
Tatiana Kosintseva: It was the only day when I had time to go for a walk. We did not have a certain schedule and everyone was doing what she wanted to gain energy. During the whole tournament we got together every evening to have some tea. We always tried to spend free time together and I am confident that it also helped us to win.
Nadezhda Kosintseva: Last Sunday I had a cultural shock having attended several events. I had a chance to see the concert in the Center of Arts for gifted children of the North, visited the Art Gallery and was in one of the most beautiful churches. I wanted to go to the cinema and to the concert of organ music, but I did not have enough energy to do that …
Alexandra Kosteniuk: We spent most of the time together. In general we were lucky to have such a fabulous golden autumn that brought us gold medals here in Khanty-Mansiysk.
This image was published on Alexandra Kosteniuk’s page after winning the Chess Olympiad
Final standings
1 Russia 1 22 MP ( 439.5 / 34 GP)
2 China 18 MP ( 386.5 / 31.5 GP)
3 Georgia 16 MP ( 384 / 29 GP)
4 Cuba 16 MP ( 348.5 / 30 GP)
5 United States of America 16 MP ( 336.5 / 28.5 GP)
6 Poland 16 MP ( 336 / 29.5 GP)
7 Azerbaijan 16 MP ( 320 / 28 GP)
8 Bulgaria 16 MP ( 296.5 / 24.5 GP)
9 Ukraine 15 MP ( 366.5 / 28.5 GP)
10 Russia 2 15 MP ( 335.5 / 26.5 GP)
11 Armenia 15 MP ( 327.5 / 28 GP)
12 Greece 15 MP ( 316 / 28 GP)
13 Romania 15 MP ( 312.5 / 28 GP)
14 Russia 3 15 MP ( 287 / 27 GP)
15 Hungary 14 MP ( 320.5 / 25 GP)
16 France 14 MP ( 314 / 29 GP)
17 India 14 MP ( 313.5 / 26 GP)
18 Vietnam 14 MP ( 278 / 26 GP)
19 Iran 14 MP ( 276 / 26 GP)
20 Lithuania 14 MP ( 261.5 / 27 GP)
21 England 14 MP ( 257.5 / 27.5 GP)
22 Croatia 14 MP ( 257.5 / 23.5 GP)
23 Peru 14 MP ( 246.5 / 24.5 GP)
24 Slovakia 13 MP ( 317.5 / 27 GP)
25 Germany 13 MP ( 313.5 / 26.5 GP)
26 Serbia 13 MP ( 304 / 26.5 GP)
27 Israel 13 MP ( 290 / 28 GP)
28 Netherlands 13 MP ( 279.5 / 28.5 GP)
29 Kazakhstan 13 MP ( 279.5 / 27 GP)
30 Uzbekistan 13 MP ( 277.5 / 26.5 GP)
31 Latvia 13 MP ( 263.5 / 25 GP)
32 Slovenia 13 MP ( 257.5 / 22 GP)
33 Bosnia & Herzegovina 13 MP ( 255 / 27.5 GP)
34 Belarus 13 MP ( 252.5 / 25 GP)
35 Argentina 13 MP ( 249.5 / 23 GP)
36 Italy 13 MP ( 238.5 / 21 GP)
37 Colombia 12 MP ( 266.5 / 25.5 GP)
38 Turkey 12 MP ( 264 / 27 GP)
39 Spain 12 MP ( 258 / 25.5 GP)
40 Moldova 12 MP ( 251 / 25.5 GP)
41 Sweden 12 MP ( 244.5 / 25 GP)
42 Ecuador 12 MP ( 239 / 25.5 GP)
43 Indonesia 12 MP ( 236 / 23 GP)
44 Philippines 12 MP ( 234.5 / 25.5 GP)
45 Denmark 12 MP ( 200.5 / 24.5 GP)
46 Australia 12 MP ( 198.5 / 23 GP)
47 Venezuela 12 MP ( 191 / 22 GP)
48 Bangladesh 12 MP ( 178 / 21 GP)
49 Turkmenistan 11 MP ( 251.5 / 26.5 GP)
50 Czech Republic 11 MP ( 248 / 23.5 GP)
51 Mongolia 11 MP ( 247 / 25.5 GP)
52 Switzerland 11 MP ( 220.5 / 23 GP)
53 Norway 11 MP ( 204 / 21.5 GP)
54 Estonia 11 MP ( 203.5 / 21.5 GP)
55 Austria 11 MP ( 203 / 21.5 GP)
56 Guatemala 11 MP ( 202.5 / 23 GP)
57 Iceland 11 MP ( 201 / 22 GP)
58 Montenegro 11 MP ( 196.5 / 22.5 GP)
59 ICSC 11 MP ( 193 / 23.5 GP)
60 Former YUG Rep of Macedonia 11 MP ( 192.5 / 21 GP)
61 Algeria 11 MP ( 184.5 / 23 GP)
62 Singapore 11 MP ( 179 / 22 GP)
63 Chile 11 MP ( 160 / 21 GP)
64 Malaysia 11 MP ( 159.5 / 22 GP)
65 Scotland 11 MP ( 155 / 20.5 GP)
66 Portugal 10 MP ( 227 / 23 GP)
67 Canada 10 MP ( 217 / 23 GP)
68 IPCA 10 MP ( 178 / 22 GP)
69 South Africa 10 MP ( 175 / 23 GP)
70 Brazil 10 MP ( 172.5 / 21 GP)
71 Mexico 10 MP ( 166 / 19.5 GP)
72 Paraguay 10 MP ( 162.5 / 21 GP)
73 Albania 10 MP ( 159.5 / 18 GP)
74 Bolivia 10 MP ( 155 / 19.5 GP)
75 Sri Lanka 10 MP ( 147.5 / 17.5 GP)
76 Puerto Rico 10 MP ( 141.5 / 18.5 GP)
77 Jordan 10 MP ( 136.5 / 20 GP)
78 Syria 10 MP ( 122 / 19 GP)
79 Tajikistan 9 MP ( 169 / 20.5 GP)
80 IBCA 9 MP ( 169 / 20.5 GP)
81 Dominican Republic 9 MP ( 168 / 23 GP)
82 New Zealand 9 MP ( 162 / 19 GP)
83 Jamaica 9 MP ( 160.5 / 19 GP)
84 Kyrgyzstan 9 MP ( 160 / 19 GP)
85 Egypt 9 MP ( 158 / 20 GP)
86 Botswana 9 MP ( 145.5 / 21.5 GP)
87 Qatar 9 MP ( 118 / 17 GP)
88 Nigeria 9 MP ( 118 / 16.5 GP)
89 Chinese Taipei 9 MP ( 117.5 / 17.5 GP)
90 Barbados 9 MP ( 115.5 / 16 GP)
91 Wales 8 MP ( 158 / 20.5 GP)
92 United Arab Emirates 8 MP ( 135 / 18 GP)
93 Tunisia 8 MP ( 128.5 / 19 GP)
94 Korea 8 MP ( 122 / 17 GP)
95 Zambia 8 MP ( 119 / 16.5 GP)
96 Surinam 8 MP ( 111 / 18 GP)
97 Yemen 8 MP ( 109 / 17 GP)
98 Angola 8 MP ( 90.5 / 15.5 GP)
99 Netherlands Antilles 8 MP ( 79 / 14.5 GP)
100 Iraq 7 MP ( 139 / 17 GP)
101 Uganda 7 MP ( 125 / 18 GP)
102 Thailand 7 MP ( 110 / 16.5 GP)
103 Ireland 7 MP ( 100.5 / 18 GP)
104 Japan 7 MP ( 86.5 / 15 GP)
105 Aruba 7 MP ( 84.5 / 13 GP)
106 Panama 7 MP ( 80.5 / 12.5 GP)
107 Ethiopia 7 MP ( 57 / 11 GP)
108 Malawi 6 MP ( 82.5 / 13.5 GP)
109 Pakistan 6 MP ( 79.5 / 15.5 GP)
110 Kenya 6 MP ( 79 / 13.5 GP)
111 Honduras 6 MP ( 78 / 14.5 GP)
112 Mozambique 6 MP ( 76 / 14.5 GP)
113 Trinidad & Tobago 6 MP ( 73.5 / 14.5 GP)
114 Libya 6 MP ( 70 / 12 GP)
115 Seychelles 1 MP ( 49.5 / 7 GP)
