seed Norway upset 3rd-seed China in round three of the 38th Chess Olympiad on Saturday, while top-ranked Russia rolled on by beating Cuba 3.5-0.5. Also in the third round of open division play, second-seed Ukraine edged Georgia 2.5-1.5. On the women's side, top-seed Russia suffered a minor upset and drew against 11th-seed India, while the other top teams won their matches. But it was Norway that captured most attention Saturday. In the most closely watched game of the day, 17-year-old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen - currently rated fourth in the world - played 21-year-old Wang Yue of China on board one. Wang had the advantage in the endgame, but Carlsen held the draw. The hero for Norway was Kjetil Lie, who beat favorite Bu Xiangzhi on board two. The Norwegians drew higher-rated Chinese opponents on boards three and four. The 13-day tournament starting Thursday includes 146 teams in the open division - often referred to as the men's division although it includes a few women - and 111 in the separate women's division. The American teams did well Saturday with easier pairings under the Swiss System pitting teams with the same score against one another for each round. The US men's team pounded South Africa 3.5-0.5 in round three, while the US women beat Turkmenistan 3-1. On board one, American Hikaru Nakamura outplayed Watu Kobese. Alexander Onischuk and Varuzhan Akobian also won for the Americans. On board one for the women, Irina Krush used threats of back-rank checkmate to exploit her opponents misplaced pieces. Anna Zatonskih and Rusudan Goletiani also won their games. In other matches, the Ukrainians suffered a scare when Georgian grandmaster Baadur Jobava beat Vassily Ivanchuk, rated third in the world. Jobava forced Ivanchuk to surrender his queen for insufficient compensation and then ground his down. But the Ukrainians prevailed on wins by Zahar Efimenko and Andrei Volokitin.
