38th Chess Olympiad
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/AM012-09.jpg/220px-AM012-09.jpg)
The 38th Chess Olympiad (German: Die 38. Schacholympiade), organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from 12 to 25 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany.[2] There were 146 teams in the open event and 111 in the women's event. In total, 1277 players were registered.
Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Ignatius Leong (Singapore). In a change from recent Olympiads, the number of rounds of the Swiss system were reduced from 13 to 11 with accelerated pairings. For the first time, the women's division, like the open division, was played over four boards per round, with each team allowed one alternate for a total of five players. In another first, the final rankings were determined by match points, not game points. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. Deducted Sonneborn-Berger; 2. Deducted sum of match points; 3. Game points.[3]
The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes their first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first. As a new rule, no draws by agreement were permitted before 30 moves had been completed. Yet there were games drawn as soon as the 16th move, formally drawn by repetition against which there was no rule.[4] In addition, players who were not present at the board at the commencement of a round automatically forfeited the game. This rule was implemented to align chess with other sports events.[5]
Open event
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Dresden_Olympiad_2008.jpg/500px-Dresden_Olympiad_2008.jpg)
The open division was contested by 146 teams representing 141 nations. Germany, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Morocco were signed up, but never appeared for their first round match and were disqualified.
Defending champions Armenia, once again led by Levon Aronian, clinched their second consecutive title. Despite being seeded only eighth, they won nine out of eleven matches, drew against fourth-placed Ukraine and lost only (1½-2½) to runners-up Israel, captained by Boris Gelfand. The Israelis finished one point behind Armenia. The United States, led by Gata Kamsky, took the bronze medals on a better tie break score than Vasyl Ivanchuk and the rest of the Ukrainian team after defeating Ukraine (3½-½) in the last round.
Once again, the Russian team under captain Vladimir Kramnik were the pre-tournament favourites but finished disappointingly in fifth place. Kramnik, having recently lost a world championship match, performed well below his rating, as did the rest of the team, except alternate Dmitry Yakovenko who won the reserve board.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/AM011-09.jpg/220px-AM011-09.jpg)
Arguably the biggest surprise of the tournament was Vietnam, who weren't even seeded in the top 30, but still managed to finish in ninth place, aided somewhat by the new tournament structure which allotted them some weaker opponents, although they did manage a 2–2 result against China. The German hosts finished 13th, while India, without World Champion Viswanathan Anand, had to settle for 16th place.
Open event results, #1–#10 # Country Players Average
ratingMP dSB 1 Armenia
Aronian, Akopian, Sargissian, Petrosian, Minasian 2677 19 2 Israel
Gelfand, Roiz, Avrukh, Postny, Rodshtein 2682 18 3 United States
Kamsky, Nakamura, Onischuk, Shulman, Akobian 2673 17 362.0 4 Ukraine
Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Eljanov, Efimenko, Volokitin 2729 17 348.5 5 Russia
Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Yakovenko 2756 16 375.0 6 Azerbaijan
Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Gashimov, Guseinov, Mamedov 2709 16 359.5 7 China
Wang Yue, Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, Wang Hao, Li Chao 2714 16 357.5 8 Hungary
Lékó, Polgár, Almási, Balogh, Berkes 2692 16 341.5 9 Vietnam
Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, Lê Quang Liêm,
Đào Thiên Hải, Nguyễn Văn Huy, Tu Hoang Thong2539 16 340.0 10 Spain
Shirov, Vallejo Pons, Illescas Córdoba,
Khamrakulov, San Segundo Carrillo2644 16 337.5
Open event results, #11–end (#146) Rank Country Average
ratingMP dSB dSMP 11 Georgia
2618 16 321.0 12 Netherlands
2609 15 343.0 13 Germany
2647 15 339.0 14 Bulgaria
2691 15 327.5 15 England
2629 15 320.0 16 India
2634 15 310.0 17 Slovenia
2583 15 288.0 18 Belarus
2602 14 307.0 19 Romania
2631 14 306.5 20 Serbia
2604 14 302.0 21 Norway
2611 14 300.0 22 France
2690 14 295.0 23 Cuba
2626 14 294.5 24 Greece
2585 14 292.5 25 Sweden
2576 14 286.0 26 Montenegro
2522 14 279.0 27 Croatia
2588 14 275.5 28 Canada
2500 14 272.5 29 Poland
2609 13 301.0 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2577 13 294.0 31 Slovakia
2587 13 290.0 32 Finland
2491 13 287.5 33 Estonia
2495 13 282.0 34 Lithuania
2548 13 278.0 35 Germany "C"
2506 13 276.5 122 36 Turkey
2496 13 276.5 121 37 Kazakhstan
2555 13 272.5 38 Czech Republic
2611 13 270.5 39 Denmark
2566 13 268.5 40 Iran
2524 13 265.0 41 Italy
2521 13 261.0 42 Germany "B"
2523 13 259.0 43 Moldova
2585 13 258.5 44 Latvia
2522 13 257.5 45 Austria
2486 13 252.5 46 Philippines
2526 13 250.0 47 Bangladesh
2486 13 249.0 48 Paraguay
2415 13 220.5 49 Colombia
2459 12 257.0 50 Uzbekistan
2557 12 256.5 51 Switzerland
2541 12 251.0 52 Indonesia
2387 12 249.5 53 Scotland
2512 12 249.0 54 Brazil
2460 12 240.0 55 Portugal
2441 12 237.5 56 Egypt
2497 12 232.0 57 Australia
2488 12 222.5 58 South Africa
2315 12 220.5 59 North Macedonia
2525 12 220.0 60 Ireland
2452 12 218.5 61 Faroe Islands
2364 12 213.5 62 Singapore
2352 12 210.5 63 United Arab Emirates
2332 12 191.0 64 Iceland
2420 11 246.0 65 Pakistan
2031 11 234.5 66 Qatar
2400 11 225.5 67 Venezuela
2444 11 224.5 68 Costa Rica
2403 11 223.5 69 Argentina
2572 11 221.5 70 Belgium
2395 11 215.5 71 Tajikistan
2358 11 207.0 72 Ecuador
2408 11 206.0 73 Mongolia
2372 11 188.5 74 Mexico
2423 11 188.0 75 Luxembourg
2286 11 177.5 76 Jordan
2288 11 175.5 77 Japan
2206 11 174.5 78 El Salvador
2300 11 173.5 79 ICSC 2305 11 166.5 80 Jamaica
2217 11 165.0 81 Wales
2263 11 158.0 82 Kyrgyzstan
2337 10 222.5 83 Turkmenistan
2355 10 200.5 84 Syria
2312 10 192.5 85 Iraq
2290 10 188.5 86 Bolivia
2313 10 183.5 87 Guatemala
2263 10 182.5 88 IPCA 2358 10 178.5 89 Algeria
2340 10 174.0 90 Dominican Republic
2358 10 167.5 91 IBCA 2318 10 166.0 92 Albania
2102 10 162.5 93 Panama
2206 10 161.0 94 Sri Lanka
2169 10 160.0 95 Puerto Rico
2228 10 159.0 96 Malaysia
2362 10 157.5 97 New Zealand
2370 10 152.0 98 Angola
2231 10 151.5 99 Lebanon
2312 10 150.5 100 Thailand
2272 10 140.5 101 Palestine
2306 9 177.5 102 Nigeria
1988 9 174.0 103 Botswana
2185 9 173.0 104 Monaco
2275 9 171.0 105 Tunisia
2310 9 163.5 106 Yemen
2332 9 163.5 107 Afghanistan
2095 9 152.0 108 Nepal
2022 9 148.0 109 South Korea
2068 9 146.5 110 Andorra
2256 9 144.0 111 Libya
2145 9 141.0 112 Netherlands Antilles
2168 9 135.5 113 Malta
2177 9 134.0 114 Uruguay
2287 9 130.5 115 Jersey
1742 9 127.0 116 Nicaragua
2238 9 120.0 117 Zambia
2082 8 140.5 118 Barbados
2142 8 136.0 119 Mozambique
1775 8 132.0 120 Uganda
2175 8 126.0 121 San Marino
1907 8 124.5 122 Cyprus
2144 8 120.0 123 Namibia
1937 8 116.5 124 Ethiopia
1769 8 108.0 125 Trinidad and Tobago
2173 8 106.5 126 Guernsey
2055 8 97.0 127 British Virgin Islands
1952 8 95.5 128 Honduras
1968 7 129.0 129 Mauritania
2139 7 116.0 130 Suriname
2141 7 110.0 131 Kenya
2164 7 109.0 132 Hong Kong
2023 7 106.0 133 Papua New Guinea
1896 7 94.5 134 Macau
2020 7 94.0 135 Aruba
2034 7 92.0 136 Chinese Taipei
1846 7 85.0 137 Bermuda
1978 7 81.0 138 Malawi
1400 6 116.5 139 Liechtenstein
2086 6 88.0 140 Ghana
1400 6 77.0 141 United States Virgin Islands
1400 6 43.0 142 Gabon
1400 5 87.0 143 Fiji
1923 5 73.0 144 Seychelles
1710 5 68.5 145 Madagascar
1400 4 146 Rwanda
1608 3
Group prizes
In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam MP dSB A 1–29 Ukraine
17 348.5 B 30–58 Vietnam
16 340.0 C 59–87 Paraguay
13 220.5 D 88–116 Luxembourg
11 177.5 E 117–146 Pakistan
11 234.5
Individual medals
For the first time, all board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Accordingly, there was no overall prize, although Sargissian on the third board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:
- Board 1:
Peter Leko 2834
- Board 2:
Vladimir Akopian 2813
- Board 3:
Gabriel Sargissian 2869
- Board 4:
Dragiša Blagojević 2792
- Reserve:
Dmitry Yakovenko 2794
Women's event
The women's division was contested by 111 teams representing 106 nations. Germany, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad.
Georgia won their fourth title, 12 years after the third one, narrowly defeating Ukraine on tie breaks. The two teams didn't meet during the tournament, but when the Ukrainians only drew their penultimate match against Serbia while the Georgians defeated former champions China (2½–1½), the gold was Georgia's to lose. In the last round they record a win (3–1) against the Serbian, who thus came to play a crucial role in the fight for the title, despite finishing in seventh place themselves. The Georgian team were led by former World Champion, 47-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, who delivered a stellar performance, winning the top board with the best performance of the tournament.
The United States clinched the bronze medals on tie breaks, just ahead of Russia (with newly crowned World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk) and Poland. The German hosts finished in 21st place.
Women's section results, #1–#10 # Country Players Average
ratingMP dSB 1 Georgia
Chiburdanidze, Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Lomineishvili, Khukhashvili 2476 18 411.5 2 Ukraine
Lahno, Zhukova, Ushenina, Gaponenko, Zdebskaya 2486 18 406.5 3 United States
Krush, Zatonskih, Goletiani, Rohonyan, Abrahamyan 2396 17 390.5 4 Russia
Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, N. Kosintseva, Korbut, Pogonina 2495 17 367.0 5 Poland
Soćko, Rajlich, Zawadzka, Majdan, Przeździecka 2386 17 364.5 6 Armenia
Danielian, Mkrtchian, Aginian, Galojan, Andriasian 2397 16 353.0 7 Serbia
Marić, Bojković, Stojanović, Chelushkina, Benderać 2386 16 318.5 8 China
Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue, Shen Yang, Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi 2486 15 392.5 9 Israel
Klinova, Borsuk, Igla, Vasiliev, Efroimski 2304 15 325.0 10 Belarus
Sharevich, Popova, Azarova, Berlin, Klimets 2278 15 317.5
Women's section results, #11–end (#111) Rank Country Average
ratingMP dSB dSMP 11 Romania
2348 15 306.5 12 Italy
2245 15 280.0 13 France
2427 14 336.5 14 Hungary
2389 14 321.0 15 India
2388 14 320.5 16 Slovakia
2348 14 299.5 17 Mongolia
2161 14 289.0 18 Netherlands
2323 14 286.0 19 Bulgaria
2375 14 282.0 20 Croatia
2259 14 281.5 21 Germany
2379 14 279.0 22 Uzbekistan
2181 14 267.0 23 Spain
2296 14 266.5 24 Greece
2317 13 307.5 25 Cuba
2289 13 288.0 26 Vietnam
2292 13 272.5 27 Austria
2231 13 269.5 28 Latvia
2264 13 266.5 29 Argentina
2260 13 262.0 30 Turkey
2184 13 249.5 31 Azerbaijan
2261 13 246.5 32 Estonia
2174 13 245.5 33 Moldova
2246 13 238.0 34 Germany "B"
2159 13 236.0 35 Montenegro
2242 13 227.5 36 Czech Republic
2321 12 270.0 37 Slovenia
2359 12 260.0 38 Sweden
2317 12 258.5 39 Iran
2194 12 258.0 40 Switzerland
2210 12 257.5 41 Colombia
2179 12 255.5 42 Indonesia
2021 12 237.5 43 Philippines
2134 12 232.0 44 Luxembourg
2185 12 227.5 45 Kazakhstan
2240 12 226.5 46 Portugal
2145 12 218.0 47 Germany "C"
2142 12 208.5 48 Brazil
2077 12 196.0 49 Kyrgyzstan
2093 12 182.0 50 England
2248 11 250.0 51 Lithuania
2294 11 239.0 52 Ecuador
2223 11 230.0 53 Norway
2193 11 224.0 54 Finland
2014 11 205.0 55 Dominican Republic
2022 11 200.5 56 Scotland
1986 11 199.5 57 South Africa
1938 11 198.0 58 Turkmenistan
2063 11 194.5 59 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2110 11 193.0 60 Iceland
2029 11 191.0 61 IPCA 2018 11 180.0 62 New Zealand
1912 11 174.5 63 Australia
2122 10 209.0 64 El Salvador
2098 10 199.5 65 Canada
2124 10 190.0 66 Mexico
2106 10 184.0 67 Venezuela
2108 10 178.0 68 Guatemala
1920 10 176.0 69 IBCA 2035 10 168.0 70 Denmark
2098 10 163.5 71 Bolivia
1978 10 162.0 72 ICSC 2130 10 161.0 73 Algeria
1936 10 158.0 74 Bangladesh
2093 10 156.0 75 Tajikistan
1767 10 155.0 104 76 Syria
1808 10 155.0 96 77 Albania
2004 10 151.0 78 Sri Lanka
1850 9 169.5 79 Wales
1891 9 145.0 80 Uruguay
1882 9 140.0 107 81 Puerto Rico
1870 9 140.0 103 82 Lebanon
1802 9 139.0 83 Costa Rica
1861 9 129.0 84 Paraguay
1725 9 127.0 85 Qatar
1656 9 121.0 86 Chinese Taipei
1556 9 118.5 87 Iraq
1706 9 117.5 88 Egypt
1842 8 142.0 89 United Arab Emirates
1805 8 129.0 90 Angola
1506 8 124.0 91 Tunisia
1490 8 119.0 92 Yemen
1400 8 114.5 93 Botswana
1529 8 113.5 94 Ireland
1534 8 90.5 95 Barbados
1400 8 81.0 96 Japan
1621 7 119.5 97 Nigeria
1400 7 111.0 98 Honduras
1400 7 106.0 99 Suriname
1498 7 105.0 100 Malta
1731 7 101.5 101 Libya
1400 7 92.5 102 Pakistan
1400 7 90.0 103 Panama
1641 7 82.5 104 Macau
1554 7 79.5 105 Fiji
1551 7 74.5 106 South Korea
1469 7 66.5 107 Trinidad and Tobago
1667 7 58.0 108 Aruba
1400 6 109 Kenya
1400 5 110 Seychelles
1400 3 111 Afghanistan
1400 1
Individual medals
For the first time, all board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Accordingly, there was no overall prize, although reborn ex-champion Chiburdanidze on the top board had the best performance of all players at the tournament:
- Board 1:
Maia Chiburdanidze 2715
- Board 2:
Anna Zatonskih 2571
- Board 3:
Nadezhda Kosintseva 2591
- Board 4:
Joanna Majdan 2621
- Reserve:
Natalia Zdebskaya 2528
Overall title
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by the same tie breakers as in the two separate events.
The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.
# | Team | MP | dSB |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 35 | 755.0 |
2 | ![]() | 35 | 753.5 |
3 | ![]() | 34 |
Bibliography
- Harald Fietz, Josip Asik, Anna Burtasova: Olympiad United! Dresden 2008. Verlag Schach Wissen, Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-9813348-0-7
Notes
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 38th Chess Olympiad: Dresden 2008 OlimpBase
- Official website
- Open section results
- Women's section results
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