Chess in Ghana: 2010 Olympiad starts: Ghana lose to Montenegro 0-4 in Round 1

The 2010 Chess Olympiad takes place from September 21st to October 3rd in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It is an 11-round Swiss System team event, in which each team has four players with one reserve. There are a total of 143 nations, with 1294 competitors of which 797 are titled. Of the titled players there are about 254 grandmasters, 65 WGMs, 159 IMs, and 90 WIMs. 34 players are rated 2700 or more, and 117 are rated at least 2600.

The official opening ceremony of the Olympiad took place late Monday evening in Complex “Arena Ugra” of Khanty-Mansiysk. As part of the ceremony there were national dances and a live chess game played on a huge chess board with people as pieces. This was an enactment of the Anderson - Kizeritsky game.

Round 1:

In round one Ghana lost 0-4 to Montenegro. Anquandah - Djukic was a Pirc game where Djukic (Black) was able to equalize easily. In the end game where Anquadah was down a pawn his Knight got trapped and was captured. In Kosic - Koney, Black had the Modern Benoni Defense setup but after a few blunders was down a piece and lost.

Thompson - Drasko was a Nimzo-Indian. In this game Black equalized fairly easily. Thompson went down two pawns in the endgame and resigned. The second Modern Benoni Defense of the day was played by Kojo Bonsu in his game against Blagojevic. In the standard position, Kojo strangely moved his Knights back and forth and allowed his opponent to gain space and good positions for his pieces. Eventually Black´s position was overrun. At move 30 it was White to play and mate in 3.

Results