First World Mind Sports Games - 2008
Surprises were the order of the day during the individual pairs blitz tournament. Other than India, 3rd, none of the other seeds made it into the medal play-offs. But that was not the end of the drama as in the play-offs Ukraine could not maintain their impetus and had to settle for bronze by easily eliminating Iran.
However, in the gold/silver play-off between India and Ecuador the scores were exactly even after the 2 matches. In the tie-break Indian GM Sasikiran had white and 6 minutes while Ecuador GM Matamoros had black and 5 minutes with draw odds. During the time scramble Matamoros accidently misplaced a piece after he had pressed his clock, in a position he should not lose. Sasikiran made the claim for a win which was upheld by the arbiter. The appeals committee also upheld the decision but ordered the game replayed in the interests of fair play. The subsequent game was won by Matamoros giving Ecuador the gold and India the silver.
IM Kenny Solomon and WIM Melissa Greeff gave a very good account of themselves in finishing 17th after being seeded 25th out of the 28 participating nations. Check their individual score cards at the bottom of the page.
| Final standings after play-offs | |||||||||
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 3 | Ecuador | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4,5 |
| 2 | 1 | India | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5,0 |
| 3 | 2 | Ukraine | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4,0 |
| 4 | 4 | Iran | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2,5 |
| Final results after 11 rounds | |||||||||
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 9 | Ukraine | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 14,0 | 135,0 |
| 2 | 14 | Iran | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 14,5 | 125,5 |
| 3 | 11 | Ecuador | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 14,0 | 129,0 |
| 4 | 3 | India | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 13,0 | 135,0 |
| 5 | 5 | Singapore | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 13,0 | 128,0 |
| 6 | 18 | Vietnam | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 13,0 | 129,0 |
| 7 | 7 | Greece | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 13,0 | 126,5 |
| 8 | 6 | Poland | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 12,5 | 131,0 |
| 9 | 2 | Germany | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 12,5 | 128,0 |
| 10 | 8 | Netherlands | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 11,5 | 139,5 |
| 11 | 4 | Hungary | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 13,0 | 119,0 |
| 12 | 1 | China | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 12,5 | 135,5 |
| 13 | 20 | Philippines | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 11,0 | 129,0 |
| 14 | 17 | Mexico | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 11,5 | 106,5 |
| 15 | 13 | Indonesia | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 11,0 | 124,5 |
| 16 | 12 | United States of America | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 10,5 | 135,0 |
| 17 | 25 | South Africa | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 10,0 | 81,5 |
| 18 | 19 | Luxembourg | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 10,5 | 124,0 |
| 19 | 16 | Slovakia | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 10,0 | 99,5 |
| 20 | 15 | England | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 9,5 | 108,5 |
| 21 | 21 | Finland | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 9,5 | 87,5 |
| 22 | 10 | Turkey | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 9,0 | 103,5 |
| 23 | 22 | Lithuania | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 9,0 | 88,5 |
| 24 | 24 | Turkmenistan | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 8,0 | 83,5 |
| 25 | 23 | Denmark | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5,0 | 88,0 |
| 26 | 27 | Japan | 11 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4,0 | 86,0 |
| 27 | 28 | Chinese Taipei | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3,0 | 81,5 |
| 28 | 26 | Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,0 | 3,0 |
| Solomon Kenny IM 2337 RSA Rp:2441 | ||||||||
| Rd. | SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. | Res. | Bo. | |
| 1 | 15 | IM | Pruess David | 2422 | USA | 3,0 | s 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | GM | Markos Jan | 2557 | SVK | 5,5 | w 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 54 | IM | Rasmussen Karsten | 2466 | DEN | 2,0 | w 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 35 | GM | Paragua Mark | 2526 | PHI | 6,5 | s 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 49 | Chen Yu-Ching | 0 | TPE | 1,0 | w 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | 55 | GM | Leon Hoyos Manuel | 2535 | MEX | 6,0 | s ½ | 1 |
| 8 | 47 | Kojima Shinya | 2272 | JPN | 4,0 | w 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | 41 | IM | Kakageldyev Amanmurad | 2449 | TKM | 2,0 | s 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 37 | GM | Nyback Tomi | 2634 | FIN | 6,0 | w 1 | 1 |
| 11 | 39 | IM | Sarakauskas Gediminas | 2429 | LTU | 4,5 | s ½ | 1 |
| Greeff Melissa WIM 1963 RSA Rp:2017 | ||||||||
| Rd. | SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. | Res. | Bo. | |
| 1 | 16 | IM | Krush Irina | 2452 | USA | 7,5 | w 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 26 | WFM | Borosova Zuzana | 2234 | SVK | 4,5 | s 0 | 2 |
| 4 | 32 | WIM | Vovk Oksana | 2142 | DEN | 3,0 | s 1 | 2 |
| 5 | 36 | Cua Sherily | 2143 | PHI | 4,5 | w 0 | 2 | |
| 6 | 50 | Chen Peng-An | 1553 | TPE | 2,0 | s 1 | 2 | |
| 7 | 31 | WIM | Hernandez Guerrero Yadira | 2228 | MEX | 5,5 | w 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 48 | Uchida Narumi | 1822 | JPN | 0,0 | s 1 | 2 | |
| 9 | 42 | WFM | Hallaeva Bahar | 2119 | TKM | 6,0 | w 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 38 | Puuska Heini | 2008 | FIN | 3,5 | s 0 | 2 | |
| 11 | 40 | WIM | Sarakauskiene Zivile | 2188 | LTU | 4,5 | w 1 | 2 |
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