Chess - The Scotsman 14/09/12 - News - Scotsman.com The best women rank below the best men (with the exception of Judit Polgar of Hungary, the only woman ever to reach the world top 10), but there is no obvious reason. One credible explanation is that not enough women play competitive chess, so the talent pool is not as deep. If that is true, then matching up women and men who have reached comparable levels might be a better test of how good women are. And the recent Istanbul Olympiad has such a test, in that women - unlike the Olympics - are allowed to compete in the open competition, if selected. Hungary fielded Polgar in the open competition (and likewise Scotland fielded Keti Arakhamia-Grant). As ever, Polgar proved to be the top female rating performer in Istanbul by scoring an unbeaten 7.5/10; in the process, she just missed out on an individual gold medal. Meanwhile in the Women's Olympiad, defending champions Russia had some consolation for their disappointment in the Open, as the Russian ladies yet again edged out top seeds China on tiebreaks to take the gold medal. China took silver and Ukraine the bronze. Scotland (+4, -5, =2) finished within their seeding group on 10/22; the highlight being Heather Lang narrowly missing out on a WFM title. Individual scores: 1. Heather Lang, 5/9; 2. Ali Roy, 4.5/10; 3. Rosie Giulian, 1.5/9; 4. WFM Joy Durno, 4/8; 5. Alice Lampard, 3.5/8. A Rasmussen - J Polgar 40th Istanbul Olympiad, (10.6) 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Nge2 d5 6 a3 Be7 7 cxd5 exd5 8 Nf4 Re8 9 Bd3 c6 10 0-0 a5 11 f3 b5 12 Bc2 Ba6 13 Re1 b4 14 Na4 Nbd7 15 e4 Nf8 16 e5 N6d7 17 Nh5 g6 18 Ng3 c5 19 dxc5 Nxc5 20 f4 Bc4 21 Be3 Qc7 22 Qd2 b3 23 Nxc5 bxc2 24 b3 d4 25 Qxd4 Bxc5 26 Qxc5 Qxc5 27 Bxc5 Bxb3 28 Ne4 Rec8 29 Rac1 Ne6 30 Be3 Rd8 31 g4 Rd1 32 Kf2 Rad8 33 Nd6 f6 34 f5 fxe5 35 Nb7 Rf8 36 Nxa5 Ba4 37 Bh6 Nc5! 38 Ke2 Rfd8 39 Nc4 Nd3 0-1