The United States made a good run at first, but in the end, Russia was able to hold on and take first at the World Team Championships. Russia finished with a +7 -1 =1 match record, finishing just ahead of the US and India, who each finished with +6 -2 =1 marks. The Americans took second on tiebreaks.

The key moment occurred in round eight, when the American team lost to Armenia while Russia trounced Egypt to retake the lead. After that, Russia was able to clinch victory in the final round by defeating Israel 3-1; the United States drew with Azerbaijan to hold onto second, while India took a 3.5-0.5 victory over Brazil to leap past Armenia and Azerbaijan for the bronze.

The American team may not have finished first, but they did have the most impressive performances on the top boards. Hikaru Nakamura had the best performance on board one, scoring 6/8 for a 2851 performance rating. Alexander Onischuk was the top board two player, with a 6.5/9 score and a 2809 performance. The overall top performance, however, came on board four, where Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored an incredible 8/9 to put up a 2950 performance.

Overall, it was a good result for the American team, especially at the top, where both Nakamura and Onischuk showed that they could hang with elite competition. Nakamura will be in action again this weekend, when the annual Corus tournament begins in Wijk aan Zee. Two other Americans who played on the team will also be participating at Corus: Varuzhan Akobian will take part in the B Group, while Ray Robson will compete in the C Group.

The United States and Russia have both posted impressive 5-1 records to share the lead at the 2010 World Team Championships, taking place in Turkey. Despite the broken English, the official site has all the important information on the tournament. There's also a four way tie for third place between rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan, along with India and Israel.

The US team -- made up of Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman, Varuzhan Akobian and alternates Robert Hess and Ray Robson -- lost their head-to-head match with the Russians, but got some help from the Greek team, who beat the Russians in the second round to give both leading teams a match loss.

Perhaps the story of the tournament so far has been the sensational win by Hikaru Nakamura over Israel's Boris Gelfand. Nakamura took the black side of a King's Indian and left his queen en prise for several moves in route to a big win. I've posted the moves from the game below, but that doesn't do the game justice; I recommend looking at analysis by Malcolm Pein over at This Week in Chess. The tournament continues Monday with the United States taking on Greece, while Russia competes against Armenia.

White: Boris Gelfand
Black: Hikaru Nakamura

2009 World Team Championships (Round 5)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Nd2 Ne8 10. b4 f5 11. c5 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. Nc4 g5 14. a4 Ng6 15. Ba3 Rf7
16. b5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 h5 18. a5 g4 19. b6 g3 20. Kh1 Bf8 21. d6 axb6 22. Bg1 Nh4
23. Re1 Nxg2 24. dxc7 Nxe1 25. Qxe1 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rg7+ 27. Kh1 Bh3 28. Bf1 Qd3
29. Nxe5 Bxf1 30. Qxf1 Qxc3 31. Rc1 Qxe5 32. c8=Q Rxc8 33. Rxc8 Qe6 0-1

While Josh Waitzkin is probably the most famous chess prodigy of the 1980s (thanks in large part to the tremendous book written by Fred Waitzkin, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and the movie based on it), there was another young player who may have made even bigger waves at the same time. Jeff Sarwer, a prodigy from Canada, was the World Under 10 Champion in 1986, and was a media darling. He appeared on television and in magazines, and was known as much for his chess as for the unusual (and according to many, abusive) conditions under which he and his sister lived.

Although Sarwer hadn't been seen in chess circles for many years, he did show up and play at a very high level in a rapid tournament that took place in Poland during 2007, and is also quickly becoming a successful poker player. Chess Life Online recently posted an interview with Sarwer, conducted by Jennifer Shahade, which talks about his childhood, what he's been up to, and what his future plans for chess and poker might be. It's a great read, and gives a lot of insight into the kind of life Sarwer has been leading as an adult. His passion for chess is still very much real, and it would be interesting to see how strong he would be if he came back to the game seriously; in the above mentioned rapid tournament, he drew a couple of GMs on the way to a 7/9 score, so the sky might be the limit for him were he to go back to serious chess study.

While we were celebrating the holidays (and for many, getting some well-deserved time off from work), Alexander Grischuk was busy, working hard at the Russian Championship Superfinal. His hard work paid off to the tune of a first place finish and the title of 2009 Russian Chess Champion. With a 6.5/9 score, Grischuk finished a half-point ahead of Peter Svidler to take home the championship (his first) and the $25,000 first prize.

The Russian Women's Championship was held concurrently with the overall championship, and was won by International Master (and Women's Grandmaster) Alisa Galliamova, who posted an impressive 7.5/9 score.  Nadezhda Kosintseva finished second, just a half point behind.

As is often the case, the Women's section had perhaps the more exciting chess overall, at least if you're not a fan of draws; just 20% of the games were drawn, perhaps owing to the lower average rating of the players competing. However, the game of the tournament likely occurred in the open championship. If you want to see four passed, connected pawns do battle with a couple of rooks, then Timofeev-Khismatullin is the game for you! It's rare to see a position like this, but Timofeev shows just how powerful an advancing wall of pawns can be. While it was his only victory in the tournament, it certainly was a spectacular one.