Another exciting day in Tromso, France managed to eek out a victory over a tough Armenian team and (much to my chagrin) the Americans lost to the Dutch. The Russians managed to climb to the top five once again after thoroughly dominating wily team from Macedonia (FYROM – Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia). As to be expected there were many upsets, before I get into those I am announcing that I have changed my upset formula (somewhat). From here on out I’m dividing the rating difference by two if the outcome of the game was drawn. So if player A rated 2800 draws player B rated 2200: (2800-2200)*.5 = 300. I’m doing this in an effort to show more decisive games and to help illustrate the achievements of players on boards that are largely ignored by most of us.
Before I begin I just wanted to show you this amusing little game that helps to illustrate why we should always be on guard in the opening. Perhaps the most amusing part of this whole thing is that this position occurs in my database twice, most recently with two players I know well! My friend (before this article was written anyhow) James H. (~2000 at the time) was playing White and a WNY player Mark C. (2098) was playing Black in the 129th NYS Championship, 2007!
After the first three rounds the standings are as follows:
| Rank | SNo | Country | Games | + | = | – | TB1 | TB2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | France | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 32.0 |
| 2 | 29 | Serbia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 32.0 |
| 3 | 1 | Russia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30.0 |
| 4 | 33 | Uzbekistan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 28.0 |
| 5 | 11 | Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 26.0 |
You’ll notice only France and the Netherlands remain from last time, with Serbia, Russia and Uzbekistan clawing their way to top. The top 5 team upsets are as follows:
- Netherlands defeats the US 2.5-1.5
- China defeats Hungary 2.5-1.5
- Uzbekistan defeats Brazil 3.5-0.5
- Kazakhstan draws Latvia
- Norway 2 draws Bosnia & Herzegovina
The rivalries of this round are as follows:
| Games Played | Country | Name | Rating | Score | Country | Name | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | BUL | Topalov | 2772 | 16.5 – 13.5 | CUB | Vallejo-Pons | 2698 |
| 20 | USA | Nakamura | 2787 | 10.5 – 9.5 | NED | Giri | 2745 |
| 12 | ARM | Aronian | 2805 | 7.5 – 4.5 | FRA | Vachier-Lagrave | 2768 |
| 12 | HUN | Leko | 2740 | 5.5 – 6.5 | CHN | Yue | 2718 |
| 9 | ENG | Adams | 2740 | 4.5 – 4.5 | GER | Naiditsch | 2709 |
| 8 | NED | Van Wely | 2662 | 5.5 – 2.5 | USA | Onischuk | 2659 |
| 5 | ITA | Caruana | 2801 | 5.0 – 0.0 | IND | Negi | 2645 |
| 5 | FRA | Bacrot | 2720 | 3.0 – 2.0 | ARM | Sargissian | 2686 |
| 4 | UZB | Kasimdzhanov | 2700 | 2.5 – 1.5 | BRA | Leitao | 2649 |
| 4 | ISR | Smirin | 2656 | 3.0 – 1.0 | BLR | Aleksandrov | 2595 |
| 3 | CHN | Ding | 2742 | 2.5 – 0.5 | HUN | Balogh | 2637 |
| 3 | CZE | Navara | 2716 | 2.5 – 1.5 | IRI | Ghaem Maghami | 2594 |
| 3 | VIE | Le | 2710 | 1.5 – 1.5 | SUI | Pelletier | 2578 |
| 3 | FRA | Fressinet | 2708 | 1.5 – 1.5 | ARM | Movsesian | 2672 |
| 3 | BUL | Cheparinov | 2681 | 2.5 – 0.5 | CUB | Anton Guijarro | 2624 |
| 3 | PER | Granda Zuniga | 2663 | 0.0 – 3.0 | MDA | Bologan | 2654 |
| 3 | BOL | Zambrana | 2472 | 3.0 – 0.0 | PAN | Baules | 2317 |
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