Russia can safely be called the clear favorite to win the gold medals at the Istanbul Olympiad. In the 8th round the team led by Vladimir Kramnik defeated reigning champion Ukraine 2.5-1.5 to increase their lead to two match points. China, Armenia, USA, Germany and the Philippines are now in shared second place. In the women's section China is in sole lead after beating Poland 3-1 while another Russia-Ukraine ended in 2-2.

The start of the match Russia-Ukraine | All photos by David Llada, Arman Karakhayan and Anastasiya Karlovich courtesy of FIDE & the official website

Although an Olympiad is pretty hard to report on in general, sometimes there are these little things that make it even harder. A hotel shuttle bus that keeps its passengers waiting for an hour before it leaves, an internet connection that goes its own way, and then a complete power outage at the hotel that kills both electricity and water for the whole morning... But we don't complain. How could we? We're in Istanbul! We're at the Olympiad! :-)

The eighth round was a highly dramatic affair. It already started before the round, and we're not even talking about Ruslan Ponomariov's T-shirt. As you know, every round a different official makes the first move at the top board of both the Open and the Women's section. Nobody knows why this happens, some obligatory smiles follow, and the match starts. But not this round.

Vassily Ivanchuk, who would play Vladimir Kramnik in the crucial Ukraine-Russia match, whispered in Ali Nihat Yazici's ear that he did not want to be at the board during this ceremony. "It disturbs me," he said, and walked away, towards the boards where China-Azerbaijan was played.

Ivanchuk (r.) to Yazici: "It disturbs me."

Kramnik also decided not to sit at the board, and was standing a few meters away. In a slightly surreal few seconds, the official put the white knight on f3, and only afterwards the players sat down and started playing.

The end of this game decided the match. Russia was leading 2-1 thanks to a win by Sergey Karjakin. Ivanchuk was trying to win an ending with an extra pawn, hoping to tie the match. At some point he almost lost on time (for the second time this Olympiad) as he was desperately trying to increase his advantage. However, the win wasn't there, and would never be. In the end it was Kramnik who offered the draw, and Chuky had to accept it. Afterwards the Ukrainian remained at the board for another ten minutes, in disbelief about the game, and realizing that it will be almost impossible to win gold again.

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Karjakin played his rook ending perfectly:

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It probably helped the Russians that their closest rivals, Azerbaijan and China, split the match points. On board one Wang Hao and Teimour Radjabov drew after a great fight in a Fianchetto King's Indian:

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Board one of China-Azerbaijan: Wang Hao vs Teimour Radjabov

China's Ding Liren had opened the score after crushing Rauf Mamedov in great style:

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It was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who saved the day for the Azeris with superb usage of the bishop pair combined with two passed pawns.

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Armenia was obviously too strong for Uzbekistan (3-1), although Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Anton Filippon did manage to draw with Levon Aronian and Sergei Movsesian respectively. 

After beating Macedonia, USA still has slight chances to win gold as well. They're paired against the Russians in round 9 so who knows? Gata Kamsky needed to work hard for his win:

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Another team that's sharing second behind Russia is Germany. They defeated Hungary and this was a crucial moment for the match:

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The Philippines are having a dream Olympiad so far, and especially Eugenio Torre. In his 21st appearance he only started playing from round five, but he scored two draws and two wins now. He beat Nigel Short in round 8:

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As mentioned above, Russia will defend its two-point lead against the USA. The other top pairings are China-Philippines, Armenia-Germany, Poland-Azerbaijan and Ukraine-France. Since Giri joined the team things went much better for the Netherlands, who now face Israel on "board 6". 

In the women's section Russia will have to do their very best to repeat their success of Khanty-Mansiysk. Like their male colleagues the Russian ladies faced Ukraine, and the match ended 2-2. Where Natalija Pogonina saved the match point in the previous round, this time she went down:

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China is the sole leader thanks to a crushing 3-1 win against Poland. The World Champion won the following game:

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China vs Poland with Hou Yifan vs Monika Socko

The top pairings for the women are China-France, India-Russia, Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan and USA-Ukraine.

Olympiad 2012 | Top results round 8

Olympiad 2012 | Round 8 standings (top 30)

Women's Olympiad 2012 | Top results round 8

Women's Olympiad 2012 | Round 8 standings (top 20)