Things are becoming a bit more interesting. With Kasparov and Khalifman resting, Russia beat the Netherlands, but Hungary gained ground with a 3½-½ thrashing  of Romania. In addition, the "Asian Dragons" have come roaring back after stumbling in the first couple of rounds. China has made tremendous progress in chess development in the past 10 years and have a strong cadre of young stars in the pipeline for many years to come.

One of these stars is GM Zhang Zhong (Zhang is the surname).  In his win against Uzbekistan's GM Marat Dzhumaev, he showed a keen eye for tactics, a trademark of Chinese players. In the diagrammed position, he uncorks the fatal blow 32...Rxe4! and white would soon suffer massive losses or be mated. Their 3-1 victory pulled them into 3rd position, within 2½ points of the lead.

In other interesting matches, Germany edged France, 2½-1½, while the Azerbaijan-Ukraine featured an exciting Radjabov-Ponomariov 81-move draw. Azerbaijan would win a decisive game on board #3 and score an upset victory over the Ukraine. India (one of the youngest teams in the upper echelon of chess) crushed the USA 3-1 and repeated the Olympiad result of two years ago.

GM Krishnan Saskiran (age 21) outplayed GM Gregory Kaidanov; IM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (age 19) demolished GM Larry Christiansen with a brutal kingside blitz; GM Pentala Harikrishna (age 16) drew with GM Boris Gulko; the elder of the pack, 25-year old GM Abhijit Kunte held the balance with GM Alexander Ivanov. India has suddenly moved up into the 10th position.

One African nation beginning its ascent is Nigeria. Having arrived to the tournament late, they have now won five matches in a row. They defeated Qatar with GM  Mohamad Al-Modiakhi scoring the only win for his team. IM Odion Aikhoje, winner of gold medal in 1998 Olympiad is "stacked" on board #4 and along with Adegboyega Adebayo on board #3, have dominated on the lower boards. In the last round Adebayo won a beautiful attacking game against Hamad Al-Tamimi.

In other action, Zambia's  IM Amon Simutowe drew once again… this time it was a grueling 101-move draw with GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj. For 35 moves, he held a Rook+Bishop vs. Rook ending which could be winning in certain positions (see diagram on right). However Simutowe's technique was flawless and he split the point… Mongolia still won 2½-1½. Zambia's Stanley Chumfwa was impressive in his win over GM Batar Hatanbaatar and is 2-2 against  four GMs. His only GM loss was against Peru's GM Julio Granda-Zuniga in which he blew a clearly winning position. Nevertheless,  we can expect good things from this tenacious player.

Zimbabwe rested IM Robert Gwaze who hopes to continue his winning streak. Gwaze had started the tournament with an astounding 7-0 and is in a good position to win a board prize. The rest was indeed very wise as the tournament enters the second half. In his absence however, Zimbabwe took a 3-1 beating at the hands of Bolivia. Angola won again by dismissing Turkey 3-1; Uganda beat Thailand 2½-1½; Kenya got back on the winning track with a 2½-1½ win over San Marino; Rwanda got four "free" points when the Guernsey team disappeared from the playing site.

In Caribbean action,  Barbados and Jamaica finished with a 2-2… all games were drawn and ended rather quickly. Trinidad and Tobago beat Liechtenstein to win their second match in a row after posting only one win in the first six rounds.  The Netherlands Antilles posted a 3-1 victory over Papua New Guinea (Pacific Islands). Mauritius, a small island off the African coast (in the Indian Ocean) known mostly for tea and spices than chess, drew with the nation of Palestine 2-2. It's very interesting when such diverse nations meet that the Chess Olympiad is the thing that may add civility and bring happiness in a world of madness. When the event ends, nations return to their distinct worlds.