Today both Russian teams won, the Russian women’s team beat the Bulgarian team 2-1, and the Russian men beat the Ukraine 3-1. Alexandra, on the first board, unfortunately handicapped with a heavy cold, lost to Stefanova, but luckily her team-mates the Kosintseva sisters made up with beautiful wins. After the rest day, on Friday, the Russian women will play Georgia and the Russian men will play the USA. Don’t forget our special Torino Chesspics page is here.

Today the Russian women’s team drew the Chinese team, with Alexandra drawing Zhao Xue on the first board, and the Russian men unexpectedly lost to France. Now the women’s team is in second position, 1/2 point behind the leaders, the Ukraine. Tomorrow Russia will play Bulgaria. In the men’s competition, the situation is worse, Russia is in 4th position, 3 points behind the leaders (Armenia). There are 4 rounds left and all is possible, though, keep posted. Look at our gallery of top teams at this page, there are many new teams online. Let us remind you that our special Torino Chesspics page is here.

Today both Russian teams, without their leaders Kramnik and Kosteniuk playing, drew their opponents, the Czech Republic and the USA. The Russian women are still in the lead, but only 1/2 point ahead of the Ukraine. In the men’s competition, the Russians are second, 2 points behind Armenia. There are 5 rounds left, anything can happen, the end of the Chess Olympiads is always exciting! Today we will see China – Russia and USA – Ukraine in the women’s competition and Russia – France in the men’s. Look at our gallery of top teams at this page, it’s been freshly updated. And don’t miss the "photogenic" page.

Today the Russian women beat Slovakia 3-0 (Alexandra won against Eva Repkova on the first board in a game full of surprises), and so the Russian women continue to lead in the Olympiads women section, 1 point ahead of the Ukraine, and 2 points ahead of the USA. Tomorrow Russia will play the USA on the first table, it should be a very interesting match. In the men’s competition, Russia beat Belarus 3 to 1, with Kramnik showing that he is in great form. Look at the full statistics here. More photos of the Olympiads have been added here. We have a gallery of top teams at this page, we are continuously adding photos to all albums.

Have a look at our Torino 2006 Chess Olympiads Team Gallery by clicking here, we’ll be adding photos of full teams every day! More photos of the Olympiads have been added to our Torino Chesspics Page.

Today the Russian women beat Hungary 2-1 (Alexandra drew Hoang Thanh Trang on the first board) and so they continue to lead in the Olympiads women section. Tomorrow Russia will play Slovakia on the first table. In the men’s competition, Russia lost to the Netherlands 1.5 to 2.5, and so tomorrow they will play on the second table facing Belarus. Look at the full statistics here. More photos of the Olympiads have been added here. We have a gallery of top teams at this page, we will be adding teams to that page tomorrow.

Today Friday May 26 is a day off for the Torino Olympiads. We see that the battle ahead will be tough, with ups and downs sure to give excitement to all spectators. Thanks for the positive emails of encouragement to Alexandra and her team, they sincerely appreciate it! Pufichek will put up more photos to the Chesspics Torino 2006 portrait gallery, make sure to give it a look. If there is a particular team or a favorite player you’d like to see photographed, send us an email and it will be done!

Today was the last day before the day off – Friday, and even though Russia lost against the Ukraine, they are still 1st overall. Alexandra, after turning down a draw offer, outplayed her opponent, then was a piece up, but incredibly missed a winning continuation, and finally lost the game. That’s shows you have to concentrate all the way to the end. In the men’s competition, Russia drew Armenia 2-2, but is also first in the ranking, going into the 6th round, which will be played on Saturday. The women will play Hungary, and the men will play Holland. Look at the full statistics here, and the best photos of the Olympiads are here.

In case you missed the game Alexandra won against Radziewicz, you can download it in pgn by clicking here. If you wish you can then take the pgn file (it’s a text file), copy the moves into our well-known web pgn player to see the game interactively. The photo on the left was taken yesterday while Alexandra was supporting her team-mates in their match against Lithuania, in which Russia won 3-0. Today Alexandra will play with Black on the first board of Russia against Natalia Zhukova of the Ukraine.

Russian men and women continued to win in the 4th round, the men beating China by 3 to 1 and the women by 3 to 0 against Lithuania. Now Russia is the sole leader in both men and women sections. But nothing is said yet, there are still 9 rounds to go and we can be sure every team in the world will do their best against them. We have more and more photos on our special Torino Chesspics page, as well as the most important links related to the Olympiads. Tomorrow in the 5th round the Russian women will play the Ukraine and the Russian men will play Armenia, both on the first table of the Olympiads.

Today both Russian teams won their matches, the men by 2.5 to 1.5 against Germany and the women by 3 to 0 against Poland the current European Champions! Alexandra won her game against Radziewicz in a key encounter, and the Kosintseva sisters followed with equally important wins, improving on the drawn match 2-2 against Poland last year in Goteborg at the EuropeanTeam Championships. Go to our special Torino Chesspics page, you will find there the best photos of the Torino Olympiads, and also the most important links related to the Olympiads. Tomorrow the Russian women will play Lithuania and the Russian men will play China.

Today both Russian teams won their matches, the men by 4 to 0 and the women by 2.5 to 0.5. Alexandra drew her game with black against Aketaeva. Note that the women’s competition is played on 3 boards, so it’s a small advantage to have 2 “whites” rather than just one. Pufichek has worked a lot today, so make sure to visit our special Torino Chesspics page, you will find there the best photos of the Torino Olympiads. Tomorrow the Russian women will play Poland and the Russian men will play Germany.

Right now the first round of the Chess Olympiads is being played in Torino. In the women’s section, Russia is playing Portugal, Alexandra is playing on the first board of Russia against Catarina Leite. The Russian men are playing against Kazakhstan. Watch the women’s games live by clicking here. We will put the results up as soon as they are available. Useful links: Complete statistics: men, women. Best photos, click here. Breaking News: Both Russian teams (men and women) won with a maximum 100% score, 3-0 for the women and 4-0 for the men.

The Opening Ceremony of the Torino Chess Olympiads took place tonight and tomorrow will be the first round. Games are played at 3PM local time in Torino. We’ll put new photos daily on our Chesspics page and news on our main page. NEW! Click here to see our photos of the Zvenigorod Training and click here to see photos of the Opening Ceremony.

Alexandra checked out the playing hall of the chess Olympiads today and will participate in the Opening Ceremony tonight. Tomorrow will be the first round. The official site of the Chess Olympiads can be found by clicking here. If you want to see a full listing of all teams and players, click here for the women’s statistics, and here for the men’s statistics. On those pages you will see that the Russian women’s average Elo is 2499, ahead of the Ukraine (2441), Georgia (2430), Hungary (2426), the USA (2414), China (2408), and the last team with an average Elo above 2400 Elo is Armenia (2402). It will be a hard fight for the Gold!

Alexandra Kosteniuk and the whole Russian team arrived today in Torino for the 37th Chess Olympiads. The Opening Ceremony will take place tomorrow, and we promise you’ll get news daily and many many photos on our special CHESSPICS photo page, click here to see it.

Here’s a photo of the Russian women’s team which will try to win the Olympic Gold at the upcoming Torino Chess Olympiads, which will start on May 20, 2006. On the photo, from left to right: IM Tatiana Kosintseva (Elo 2489), IM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Elo 2460), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Elo 2540), IM Nadezhda Kosintseva (Elo 2469). The photo was taken at the training camp of the National team in Zvenigorod. You can see more photos of the training session in Zvenigorod by clicking here to view our new photo album.

We now have the final composition of the women and men teams that will represent Russia in the coming Chess Olympiads in Torino. For the men: Kramnik, Svidler, Morozevich, Grischuk, Bareev, Rublevsky. And for the women: Alexandra Kosteniuk, T. and N. Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya. Both teams are extremely strong and will definitely fight for a place on the podium. During the Olympiads, we will have daily news. The best photos of most teams and players will be on CHESSPICS, also updated regularly.