Bled 2002 - Round 4

The Great Book of Chess Olympiads

35th Chess Olympiad - Bled 2002

Edition 1

Completed 5/16 of the work.

Number of pages: 701.

Number of games: 1068.

On the top four boards, high scores were recorded: Russia (average rating in this match 2721), Poland (2595), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2567) won 3.0 - 1.0 against Georgia (2558), Cuba (2568), and Kazakhstan (2505) respectively, while Armenia (2620) crushed Yugoslavia (2548). The most frequently fielded and effective players in the Russian team up to this point were Kasparov 3/3, Khalifman 3/3, and Svidler 2.5/3.

In the Polish team, the players' point tallies were as follows: Krasenkow 2/2, Macieja 1/2, Socko 2/3, Miton 2/3, Markowski 3/3, and Kempinski 2/2. None of the Polish players suffered a defeat, and foreign observers noted the young Kamil Miton and Bartlomiej Macieja.

Ukraine (2665) inflicted a painful defeat on Spain (2567). In that match, Ponomariov 2743 defeated the rising star of Spanish chess, Vallejo Pons 2635.

The prestigious clash between China (2633) and the silver medalists from Istanbul, Germany 2626, produced a draw after a hard-fought battle.

After Round 4, Poland (!!!), Armenia, and Russia were in the lead - each with 13 points, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 12.5, and Ukraine and the Czech Republic (!) - with 12.0 each.

Here is a curious anecdote:

Between Russia and the Czech Republic, a "curious agreement" was reached - the Chinese would stop rubbing (!) strongly scented creams on themselves during the match, and the Russians pledged not to talk to each other for the entire duration of the match!