Russian women claim Chess Olympiad gold

Published time: September 09, 2012 22:17
Edited time: September 10, 2012 02:17
Russian women’s chess team of Tatyana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Alexandra Kostenyuk (Image from chessolympiadistanbul.com)

Russia's women’s team have triumphed in the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey with the country also claiming silver in the men’s competition.

­The Russian quartet of Tatyana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Alexandra Kostenyuk collected a 4-0 win against Kazakhstan on the final matchday in the event.

Their main rivals from China lost points in their tie against Bulgaria, whom they only managed to beat with 2,5:1,5 score.

Despite the two top sides grabbing 19 points, it’s Team Russia who took the gold, thanks to a better a tie-break performance.

The Russian women have defended their title from Khanty-Mansiysk 2010, but, according to Valentina Gunina, the current success came at a lot higher price.

“We are proud, but indeed there is a big difference between these 2010 and 2012 Olympiads,”
she told World Chess Olympiad’s official website. “In Khanty-Mansiysk we won 11 games in a row – and there was nothing to be sorry about. However, the real team is made only through defeats, when you have to overcome the obstacles and difficulties. This time we had hard times but we managed to do well. I am proud of what we have done.”

Meanwhile, the Russian men’s team have come away with silver at the Olympiad, repeating their result from two years ago.

Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karyakin, Aleksandr Grischuk and Dmitry Yakovenko scored 19 points after 11 rounds to finish level with Armenia, but came in second on technicalities.

Comments (13)

Spinoza (unregistered) 06.12.2012 14:49

Logic is not everything; neither does a mere game, of some potentially complex moves, reveal all the infinite criss-crossings that are far more present in Life which make up the geometrical structures of  both the visible and invisible "chessboards" of our multi-dimensional Existence. 
As anyone will know, sometimes all the correct "moves" can be made and still life is "lost" or rendered obscure.   Others may "lose" literal chess games and still "win" the vast majority of "moves" in Life.
If you do not believe that this principle exists, it has long existed especially in religious traditions such as is written in Ecclesiastes 9:2 (i.e. "whether it is love or hate man cannot know") and, no doubt, elsewhere (i.e. no matter whether we make the correct moves or some false moves...we cannot fully predict the final outcome or end results of our lives).  Not all the "moves" of Existence are necessarily "visible" to the naked eye.  Some "moves" in our Existence remain invisibleour entire lives but their effects become known later...beyond the original spheres of primordial causes. 
Hence, logic can never be The All nor can it completely cure the individual pains interwoven with the lines that make up the what we see in liinear time of  total potential sufferings which make up the "dark nights of the soul" ...nor alleviate, permanently, the worries, anxieties, and disappointments that are often involved in the dark places of the lonely human heart.

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AmericanInRomania (unregistered) 10.09.2012 12:45

Chess is a "sport"?    What's next?  Monopoly in the Olympics?  Shoots and Ladders?

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JJ (unregistered) 10.09.2012 12:42

If one of these women liked me, maybe she would lose a game on purpose
just to make me feel better, more likley all I could do is play checkers and
she would likely beat me at that too.
---------------- ------------------
There's Russian Babes all around me, am I in Heaven?
Oh Oh, here comes her Russian Boyfriend, this puppy has got to run !

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