Vasily Ivanchuk leads Ukraine to Olympiad gold medals.

Fourth consecutive Olympiad win for Chinese women.

Kramnik keeps classical world title after 7-7 tie with Leko.

Second European Cup for NAO.

Nigel meets Magnus.

Content

CALVIA OLYMPIAD
How will the 36th Olympiad, held in Calvia, Mallorca, be remembered? As the Olympiad where Ukraine posted a sensational victory, well ahead of Russia? Or as the Olympiad that ended in scandal when FIDE vice-president Zurab Azmaiparashvili was arrested in a violent scuffle at the closing ceremony? In our report the spotlights are mainly on the proud winners. Captain Vladimir Tukmakov tells the story and Ukrainian stars Ivanchuk, Volokitin, Eljanov and Karjakin, corroborate his words with beautiful games. Anand, Svidler, Shirov and Vallejo contribute further Olympiad highlights.

CHINESE WOMEN SUPERIOR AGAIN
There were doubts if they could pull it off again, but in fact China’s fourth consecutive win in the women’s Olympiad looked smoother than ever.

HISTORIC MEDALS
Perhaps the members of the US women’s team were secretly dreaming about gold, but in the end they were elated by their second place.

14’S KRAMNIK’S LUCKY NUMBER
Still seated at the board, Vladimir Kramnik showed the measure of his relief and happiness by twice briskly pumping his fist into the air. In the 14th game, his very last chance, he had finally torn down Peter Leko’s defences to tie the score at 7-7. The one million Swiss francs prize-fund he had to share with his challenger but the classical world title remained his.

INTERVIEW: VLADIMIR KRAMNIK
In a frank talk with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, the Classical World Champion shares his views on the crucial moments in the match, short draws (‘There should be more respect for the players’) and his ideas about the unification: ‘It’s not whom you play, Garry, Anand, Peter, it doesn’t matter for me really. What matters for me is what will happen after this. Otherwise I do not see any sense in unifying.’

ANOTHER CUP FOR NAO
At the European Club Cup in Izmir, Turkey, the NAO Chess Club successfully defended their title.

SOKOLOV WINS HOOGEVEEN
‘Fuddy-duddy’ Nigel Short reports on ‘an enjoyable, friendly, smoothly organized tournament’ that started with Magnus Carlsen’s absence at the opening ceremony.

QUIET, BUT WITH A REVOLVER
Hans Ree read the biggest biography ever devoted to a chess master.

MAGNIFICENT VANISHING TRICKS
Jan Timman shows winning entries from the 7th Composition World Championship.

ROWSON’S REVIEWS
Please wash your hands before you read Jonathan Rowson’s observations about Viktor Kortchnoi’s best game collection.

JUST CHECKING
Guess what Alexey Shirov thinks about his current position in the world rankings?

Did they play your opening?

In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:

Sicilian Defence
Quezada-Karjakin, by Karjakin
Sebag-Xu Yuhua, by Xu Yuhua
Rublevsky-Kasparov, by Rublevsky
Stellwagen-Carlsen, by Short
Ivanchuk-Radjabov, by Ivanchuk
Svidler-Lautier, by Svidler
Volokitin-Delchev, by Volokitin
Short-Stellwagen, by Short
Anand-Morozevich, by Anand

Pirc
Zatonski-Agrest, by Zatonski

French Defence
Grischuk-Vaganian, by Grischuk
Volokitin-Lputian, by Volokitin
Rozentalis-Vallejo, by Vallejo
Berzina-Huang Qian, by Huang Qian

Caro-Kann
Xie Jun-Kachian, by Xie Jun
Kramnik-Leko, by Leko
Carlsen-Stellwagen, by Short
Kramnik-Leko, by Kramnik
Morozevich-Ivanchuk, by Ivanchuk

Ruy Lopez
Short-Sokolov, by Short

Queen’s Gambit Declined
Carlsen-Short, by Carlsen

Slav
S.Polgar-Madl, by S.Polgar
Rowson-Sarakauskas, by Rowson
Beliavsky-Lautier, by Lautier
Shirov-Fressinet, by Shirov

Nimzo-Indian
Krush-Xu Yuhua, by Krush
Sokolov-Short, by Sokolov

King’s Indian
Eljanov-Nataf, by Eljanov

English Opening
Vijayalakshmi-Zhao Xue, by Zhao Xue
Kortchnoi-Rowson, by Rowson
S.Polgar-Chiburdanidze, by S.Polgar