44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

[J T Melsom]

Jack, that would have been plausible but less so because Pakistan were in the list. I also accept that chess results might not tell the full story - it doesn't seem to be giving these teams default win/losses. I have every confidence in the TAP team but this is a bit ambiguous.

[Leonard Barden]

https://www.pgurus.com/pakistan-boycott ... h-kashmir/

[A.Kluckova]

Interesting news , it sounds very good !
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spo ... 962380.cms

[David Sedgwick]

Jack, that would have been plausible but less so because Pakistan were in the list. I also accept that chess results might not tell the full story - it doesn't seem to be giving these teams default win/losses. I have every confidence in the TAP team but this is a bit ambiguous.

If a team has not arrived, it will not be paired for Round 1. A decision on what score, if any, it will be given for Round 1 will be made later.

If there really are only four teams absent, that is a remarkably low number.

Round 1 absentees often show up in time for later rounds.

In the case of Pakistan, however, it does seem that they have withdrawn, sadly.

[NickFaulks]

If there really are only four teams absent, that is a remarkably low number

I was very surprised to see so few. I hope their confidence is justified.

[LawrenceCooper]

All board pairings now available:
https://chess-results.com/tnr653632.asp ... ilen=99999
https://chess-results.com/tnr653631.asp ... =1&flag=30

[David Gilbert]

Good luck Conor Murphy against the Maldivians. Charlton & Kent are pitching for you.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Looking at the pairings, the Lebanon board 1 is rated more than 300 points below the board 2. Am I right in thinking board order does not need to be based on rating? I am guessing the guy will be disappointed not to be playing Carlsen, who has not been selected.

[Roger de Coverly]

Am I right in thinking board order does not need to be based on rating?

I don't think FIDE has ever applied "order of strength" or "order of ratings" rules commonplace in other chess team competitions. It's not uncommon in the Olympiad for teams expecting to be towards the tail of the pairings to put their better players on lower boards. There are rating related team prizes to be contested.

[David Sedgwick]

I am guessing the guy will be disappointed not to be playing Carlsen, who has not been selected.

I put the chances of Carlsen playing in Round 1 at something less than 0.1%.

Of the top 10 seeds in the Open. Shirov, Board 1 for 4th seeds Spain, is the only one playing in this round.

[David Sedgwick]

If there really are only four teams absent, that is a remarkably low number

I was very surprised to see so few. I hope their confidence is justified.

Good luck Nick, except when you are playing a British Isles team or Gambia.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Graham,

Perhaps the Lebanese player has some clout with their captain and asked him to pair him v Carlsen.
It's a pity Carlsen is not playing, If money changed hands (I'd have offered a quite few quid to get bumped up)
then will be it handed back. 'You paid to be board one...you are board one!"

Carlsen is obviously bored playing Lebanese players.
Nakamura finds the Olympiad too boring to play in as does the whole of the Vietnam men's team.
The not yet bored Vietnam ladies are playing . (is there a precedent for this? No men but the ladies are playing?)
Pakistan turn up and (so I've been told) found the opening ceremony too boring and went back home.
I'm bored with being bored analogies as no doubt you are.)

[John Moore]

Am I right in thinking board order does not need to be based on rating?

I don't think FIDE has ever applied "order of strength" or "order of ratings" rules commonplace in other chess team competitions. It's not uncommon in the Olympiad for teams expecting to be towards the tail of the pairings to put their better players on lower boards. There are rating related team prizes to be contested.

Rwanda who are playing Scotland today have their team in the following order of rating - 1131(!), 1566, 1678 and 1877.

[John Saunders]

Those of a similar vintage to me who have connections to Bucks, Hampshire, Cambridge(shire) and/or Charlton may recognize the name of the Cayman Islands top board. Cliff Shaw was a Hampshire player as a young teenager in the mid-1960s, then moved to Bucks (Aylesbury Grammar School) where he won the county junior individual championship, and later the county title proper. In the late 1970s he played for Charlton, after a stint in Fiji where he won the national title. He's not been permanently domiciled in the UK since then and not played much competitive chess either. But the Tunisian GM he plays today may discover that the player sitting opposite him plays to a higher standard than his notional 1615 rating.

[David Sedgwick]

Nakamura finds the Olympiad too boring to play in ...

On the contrary, he finds it too boring to be not playing in it.

He said that he only wished to play if selected for one of the top four boards.