Nikolas Theodorou is the Grandmaster in chess! – Won the silver medal at the 44th Chess Olympiad

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The 44th Chess Olympiad was held in Chennai, India

It was completed with organizational and competitive success Chennai, India the 44th Chess Olympiad (July 29-August 9), with the participation of 188 teams from 186 countries (the host country fielded three teams).

A very good performance was made by both our National Teams, who were constantly close to the top and finally ranked in 15th place for the men’s team and 28th for the women’s team, despite all the losses they suffered literally at the last moment due to the corona virus of both of their key executives, of Yiannis Papaioannou, for the men and for the women of Marina Makropoulos, who belongs to the staff of the Naval Club of Kalamata.

The “neophotist” achieved top individual distinction in our national team, the 21-year-old Nikolas Theodorou, from Rethymno, who competed in the 2nd chessboard and won the silver medal! Also excellent was Stavroula Tsolakidou who in the very difficult 1st chessboard finished the matches undefeated, making an amazing appearance with a total result of 8.5 points in 11 matches.

In the Open Group (“Men’s”), our National Team started with an easy 4 – 0 victory over Haiti, in the 1st round. They then beat Kosovo 3 – 1. In the 3rd round they were defeated 1 – 3 by the mighty 1st team of the host India. They returned to winning ways with a 3 – 1 win over mighty Bulgaria in the 4th round. In its 5th match, it drew with Moldova (a team that was one of the pleasant surprises at the Olympiad and eventually tied for 4th to 6th place) 2 – 2. In the 6th round, our national team defeated Belgium 4 – 0. In the 7th round, it was a draw with the -former Olympic gold medalist!- team of Ukraine, 2 – 2. Then our team beat the Philippines 2½ – 1½. In the 9th round we had a tough loss, with a score of 1½ – 2½ to the USA, the team that had won the gold medal in the previous Chess Olympiad, 2020.

Our National Team returned to winning with 2½ – 1½ over Iceland, in the 10th (penultimate) round. Finally, the effort ended with an honorable 2 – 2 draw with the French team, which also has important distinctions at the national level, in recent years.

In total, our team won six, drew three and lost only two in the 11 games they played.

A special mention must go to our chess player Nikolas Theodorou, who with the wonderful result of 7½ points in 9 games (6 wins, 3 draws, no losses) won the individual silver medal in the 2nd board.

The National Team was sponsored by the Bank of Greece.

The men’s final standings:

1) Uzbekistan 19 b. (8 wins, three draws, no losses, in 11 matches)

2) Armenia 19 b. (9 wins, one draw, one loss – lost to winners)

3) India-2 18 b. (8 wins, two draws, one defeat – lost to Armenia)

4 – 6) India-1, USA and Moldova, from 17 b. (7 wins, three draws, one loss)

7 – 10) Azerbaijan, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, from 16 b.

11 – 24) Holland, Spain, France, England, Greece, Israel, Kazakhstan, Germany, Cuba, Serbia, Brazil, Montenegro, Austria and Peru, from 15 b.

25 – 42) Czech Republic, Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, India-3, Philippines, Argentina, Indonesia, Mongolia, Egypt, Sweden, Chile, Slovakia, Iceland, Tunisia, Uruguay from 14 b.

Cyprus scored five wins and six losses, collected 10 b. and tied for positions 102 to 127. He was ranked 104th with the criteria, while he was No. 102 in the original ranking.

188 teams from 186 countries took part.

We would like to point out that the ranking in tie grades was based on the criteria, with the Olympic Sonneborn–Berger first.

The individual results of the National Team players:

Mastrovasilis Dimitris (GM 2599) : 2 wins, 5 draws and three losses, 4½ b. in 10 sq.

Theodorou Nikolas (GM 2575): 6 wins, 3 draws no defeats, 7½ b. in 9 st.

Mastrovasilis Thanos (GM 2527): 3 wins, 3 draws and two losses, 4½ b. in 8 h.

Banikas Christodoulos: (GM 2598): 4 wins, 5 draws no defeats, 6½ b. in 9 st.

Ioannidis Evgenios (IM 2459): 4 wins, 2 draws and two losses, 5 b. in 8 h.

The coach of our national team was GM Giannis Nicolaidis.

In total, our chess players scored: 19 wins, 18 draws and 7 losses, 28 b. in 44 sq

The final standings in the Women’s Olympiad were:

1) Ukraine 18 b. (seven wins, 4 draws, no losses, in 11 matches)

2) Agriculture 18 b. (eight wins, two draws, one loss)

3) India-1st team 17 b. (eight wins, one draw, two losses)

4 – 5) USA, Kazakhstan, also from 17 b.

6 – 14) Poland, Azerbaijan, India-2nd group, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Armenia, Serbia and Slovakia, from 16 b.

15 – 20) Mongolia, Czech Republic, India-3rd group, Lithuania, Cuba and Netherlands, from 15 b.

The National Team ranked us in positions 21 to 34, with 14 b. and ranked 28th, based on the criteria. He recorded six wins and two draws, while suffering three defeats.

The chess players of our national team were:

Tsolakidou Stavroula (IM 2362): 8½ b. in 11 st. (six wins, five draws, no losses)

Avramidou Anastasia (FM 2274): 7½ b. in 11 st. (five wins, five draws, one loss)

Pavlidou Katerina (IM 2138): 3½ b. in 9 st. (three wins, one draw, five losses)

Markantonaki Haritomeni (FM 2154): 4½ b. in 8 h. (four wins, one draw, three losses)

Makka Julia (IM 1975): 3 b. in 5 h. (two wins, two draws, one loss)

In total, our chess players scored 20 wins, 14 draws and 10 losses in 44 games)

The coach of our national team was GM Vassilis Kotronias.

The leader of the Greek delegation was IM Giorgos Makropoulos, who was elected vice-president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), adding a very great administrative success in the very big tournaments.

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