Press Release

34th WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD
PRESS RELEASE 3: 2000/10/31

Hungary stunned favourites Russia with a 2.5-1.5 defeat in 3rd round action at the 34th World Chess Olympiad currently underway in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Hungarians, fielding a strong team of Grandmasters Peter Leko (2743), Zoltan Almasi (2668), Judit Polgar (2656) and Gyula Sax (2563), tied the Russians down to draws on boards 2-4 in the hope that Leko could make something happen with the white pieces against World Champion Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman.

Their game plan worked like a dream as Leko, who is actually rated 76 points higher that the World Champion, ground out a 67 move win to give the Hungarians the match and maintain their tournament lead.

Cyprus vs Barbados: Junior Taitt, Michael Forde, Dirk Austin and FIDE Master Dr. Philip Corbin

Their 4-0 loss to a much improved Cyprus, who were sporting former Greek Grandmaster Vasilios Kotronias (2539) on board 1, dramatically reverses the previous 2-2 draws in 1988 and 1996.

Only Dirk Austin on board 2 made any headway gaining a good position against Antonis Antoniou (2246). A tragic misunderstanding of the final time control by Austin left the team in disbelief as their only win for the match slowly turned from a win, to a draw and finally a loss as Austin overstepped the time control in a drawn position.

On a brighter note for the Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago blew away Ethiopia with a massive 4-0 blitz. Jamaica came within a shave of a major upset when they let Norway off the hook with a 1.5-2.5 victory.

Cuba, playing on Board 7, continued its fine form by dispatched Finland with a 3-1 win to move into third position behind Hungary and Germany.

In the Women's action a hard fought 2-1 victory by the Chinese over Yugoslavia help them maintain their lead on 8.0 points with The Netherlands who smashed Bulgaria 3-0.

Results from the top 10 boards Men:

1. Hungary 2.5 - Russia 1.5
2. Germany 3.0 - Moldova 1.0
3. Armenia 1.5 - Slovakia 2.5
4. England 2.5 - India 1.5
5. Estonia 2.0 - Spain 2.0
6. Philippines 2.0 - Switzerland 2.0
7. Finland 1.0 - Cuba 3.0
8. Belgium 1.0 - France 3.0
9. Uzbekistan 1.5 - China 2.5
10. Isreal 3.5 - Slovenia 0.5

Results from the top 10 boards Women:

1. China 2.0 - Yugoslavia 1.0
2. Russia 2.0 - England 1.0
3. Czech Republic 1.5 - Kazakhstan 1.5
4. USA 1.0 - Vietnam 2.0
5. Bulgaria 0.0 - Netherlands 3.0
6. Azerbaijan 0.0 - Gerogia 3.0
7. Lithuania 1.5 - Ukraine 1.5
8. Latvia 1.5 - Hungary 1.5
9. Belarus 1.5 - Austria 1.5
10. Uzbekistan 1.5 - Armenia 1.5