36th Chess Olympiad - Women's Results

Women's Results

The women's division was contested by 87 teams representing 84 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) each provided one squad.

China, led by first board Xie Jun (ex-World Champion) and second board Xu Yuhua (future champion), entered the competition as top seed and defending triple champions and quickly took the lead, conceding just two draws in their first five matches They then defeated the silver and bronze medallists from the previous Olympiad, Russia and Poland (each 2-1), in the sixth and eighth rounds, respectively. Eventually they carried a six-point lead into a tenth round match with second placed United States.

Susan Polgar (another ex-World Champion), who entered the tournament as the second highest-rated player and achieved the best performance rating of all, drew Xie Jun, while Irina Krush won her second board game against Xu Yuhua. A draw by Anna Zatonskih against Zhao Xue gave the Americans a 2-1 win over the Chinese team. In rounds eleven and twelve, China drew Hungary and lost to Georgia, whilst the US team defeated Slovakia and then scored a 2½-½ victory over Hungary, drawing within three points of China with two rounds remaining. China, though, defeated sixth-seed India and 12th-seed Slovakia in the final two rounds, scoring four points to preserve what was ultimately a three-point win and to clinch the Vera Menchik Trophy for a fourth consecutive time.

Second-seed Russia were led by Nadezhda Kosintseva, who won top honours on the first reserve board for scoring 10 points in 12 rounds. The Russians were only in eighth place after ten rounds but had advanced to fourth place entering the penultimate round, where they faced Georgia, who they trailed by half a point. Although first board Maya Chiburdanidze (ex-World Champion) and second board Nana Dzagnidze, who both scored 8½ points for their team over the event, drew their matches, third board Lela Javakhishvili lost to Kosintseva, giving the Russian team a half-point lead over Georgia; although Georgia defeated Ukraine 2½-½ in the final round, Russia managed to secure two points against France, equalling Georgia's total and winning the bronze medals on tie-breaks.

Newly crowned World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova disappointed as captain of the Bulgarian team, scoring only 5½ points in 11 games. Bulgaria eventually finished in 14th place.

#	Country	Players	Average rating	Points	Buchholz
1	China	Xie Jun, Xu Yuhua, Zhao Xue, Huang Qian	2514	31
2	United States	Polgar, Krush, Zatonskih, Shahade	2490	28
3	Russia	Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya, N. Kosintseva	2491	27½	346.0
4	Georgia	Chiburdanidze, Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Lomineishvili	2470	27½	339.0
5	France	Skripchenko, Marie Sebag, Silvia Collas, Sophie Milliet	2417	25½
6	Hungary	Mádl, Vajda, Gara, Lakos	2376	25	348.5
7	Slovakia	Repkova, Pokorna, Hagarova, Borošová	2377	25	337.0
8	England	Hunt, Houska, Richards, Buckley	2293	25	334.5
9	India	Humpy Koneru, Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi, Dronavalli Harika, Nisha Mohota	2435	24½	352.0
10	Poland	Radziewicz, Soćko, Dworakowska, Zielinska	2428	24½	340.0

#	Country	Average rating	Points	Buchholz	MP
11	Armenia	2374	24½	330.5
12	Netherlands	2372	24½	317.5
13	Lithuania	2311	24	329.5
14	Bulgaria	2410	24	329.0
15	Sweden	2301	24	327.0
16	Yugoslavia	2406	24	324.5
17	Germany	2365	24	323.5
18	Ukraine	2456	23½	342.0
19	Slovenia	2288	23½	325.5
20	Romania	2408	23½	318.5
21	Vietnam	2308	23½	317.0
22	Azerbaijan	2317	23	325.0
23	Latvia	2294	23	323.0
24	Cuba	2303	23	321.0
25	Israel	2247	23	320.5
26	Moldova	2296	23	313.5
27	Belarus	2278	23	308.0
28	Czech Republic	2308	22½	313.5
29	Greece	2343	22½	311.5
30	Argentina	2274	22½	302.0
31	Switzerland	2250	22½	298.0
32	Uzbekistan	2235	22½	293.0
33	Kazakhstan	2317	22	315.5
34	Iran	2208	22	313.5
35	Mongolia	2263	22	313.0
36	Estonia	2229	22	290.0
37	Colombia	2115	21½	303.0
38	Norway	2149	21½	302.5
39	Croatia	2243	21½	299.5
40	Malaysia	2084	21½	299.0
41	Canada	2123	21½	277.0
42	Finland	2144	21	299.0
43	Spain	2242	21	297.0
44	Spain "B"	2187	21	296.5
45	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2146	21	293.0
46	Italy	2213	21	292.0
47	Australia	2243	20½	306.0
48	Philippines	1940	20½	295.0
49	Portugal	2124	20½	292.0
50	Venezuela	2147	20½	288.5
51	Iceland	2148	20½	288.0
52	Wales	1975	20½	285.0
53	Turkey	2082	20½	283.5
54	Brazil	2072	20½	282.5
55	Austria	2122	20	292.0
56	Macedonia	2002	20	288.5
57	Mexico	2134	20	281.5
58	Kyrgyzstan	1760	20	279.0
59	Indonesia	1775	20	277.5
60	Guatemala	1748	20	276.0
61	Peru	2138	20	274.5
62	Albania	1749	20	265.0
63	Ecuador	2224	19½	295.0
64	Denmark	2133	19½	289.0
65	Lebanon	1942	19½	282.0
66	IPCA	2080	19½	270.0
67	Iraq	1704	19½	229.5
68	South Africa	1875	19	291.0
69	Bangladesh	2120	19	276.5
70	Tajikistan	1600	19	261.5
71	Bolivia	1763	19	259.0
72	Costa Rica	1764	19	226.5
73	Botswana	1884	19	220.5
74	Luxembourg	1981	18½	292.5
75	IBCA	1875	18½	257.0
76	Puerto Rico	1878	18½	231.5
77	Dominican Republic	2023	18	275.5
78	New Zealand	1899	18	242.0
79	Sri Lanka	1600	18	233.0
80	Ireland	1891	17½
81	Fiji	1600	16½
82	Libya	1695	13½
83	Japan	1716	12½
84	Trinidad and Tobago	1600	12	209.0
85	Honduras	1600	12	206.5
86	Kenya	1600	11
87	United States Virgin Islands	1600	8