Ben's Blog: Russia back in first as U.S. team slips

Russia, as expected, had an easy time against Egypt, so the USA needed to win against the tough Armenian team to maintain their slim lead.  It was not to be, as Armenia's #1, Levon Aronian, played an excellent game against Hikaru Nakamura and scored the only decisive game of the match. 

The U.S. team played well on all four boards, but a slip on move 41 by Hikaru allowed Levon the amazing 42.Rb6!! from which Hikaru could not recover.  

Tomorrow is the last round, and the U.S. team plays the powerful Azerbaijani team, whilst Russia does battle against Israel.  The U.S. can still win any of the gold, silver, or bronze medals as it is currently in second with 12 match points, behind Russia's 13.  Hopefully, we can finish strong and our team will win well-deserved medals!

Aronian (2781) vs. Nakamura (2708)