Top seed Russia bounced back after drawing Germany in the last round to beat England 3-1 Wednesday in round six of open division play at the Chess Olympiad. The Russian team was led by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik over Nigel Short on board one. Short gave up a rook and two pawns for two knights and was then ground down. Russia's other win came from Dmitry Jakovenko on board four at the expense of Stuart Conquest. The other two games, England's David Howell versus Peter Svidler and Russia's Alexander Morozevich versus Gawain Jones were drawn. It was a big win for Russia, after 11th-seed Germany had battled all four games against them to a draw in round five of the biennial tournament on Monday. The 38th Chess Olympiad, which started Nov. 13, includes 146 teams in the open division - often referred to as the men's division although it includes a few women. The separate women's division includes 111 teams. In other open division play, Armenia kept pace with the Russians by beating Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5. The two teams are now tied for first with 5.5 match points out of six and will meet in round seven. The United States defeated Cuba 2.5-1.5. Hikaru Nakamura seemed to have lost early on against Cuba's Lazaro Bruzon but turned the game around for the win. Yuri Shulman also won for the Americans, against Jesus Nogueiras. On board one, Gata Kamsky of the United States drew Leinier Dominguez, defending patiently until he reached a pawn-up ending with opposite-color bishops. On board three, Alexander Onischuk got ground down and lost after a long endgame by Yuniesky Quezada. In other matches: Ukraine and Germany tied 2-2; France beat Poland 3-1; India edged Bosnia and Herzegovina 2.5-1.5; Serbia beat Ireland 2.5-1.5 and Australia overcame Switzerland 2.5-1.5. The following teams are tied for third with five match points out of six: China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Romania, and Ukraine. The United States has 4.5 points. On the women's side, China remained the only team with a perfect score by beating Hungary 2.5-1.5. Poland upset Georgia 2.5-1.5. Russia beat Austria 3-1, and the United States crushed Romania 4-0. The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the United States are all tied for second with five points out of six. Round seven will be played Thursday. In other chess news, the European Web site www.chessdom.com reported that American Kamsky has agreed to terms for a match against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in Sofia in February to decide which of them will play a title match against world champion Viswanathan Anand of India. A source inside FIDE (the World Chess Federation) who is familiar with the situation confirmed to the Associated Press that the players had agreed in principle to the terms for the match, which had originally been scheduled to take place in Ukraine in December. He requested anonymity because it has not yet been officially announced. The reason for the change is that the money promised by the Ukrainian sponsors never materialized. Topalov would not comment on specifics of the agreement but said an announcement would be made Thursday.
