England Olympiad pairings

[Leonard Barden]

Board points is how it was for many decades. The combination of fewer rounds, a huge percentage of no-hope teams, and board points rather than match points have undoubtedly increased the random element and the chance of a small number of key games deciding the medals.

I've discussed this very subject in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/au ... piad-chess

[Jonathan Rogers]

I've heard a few complaints (specifially from Kramnik and the Ukranian coaches) about the poor format of the Olympiad claiming it is too random and isn't the best way of allowing the best teams to win.

Kramnik suggested that the tournament should be decided by board points instead of match points.

Any thoughts?

see various previous threads, I should think. At the end of play yesterday Ireland were ahead of England on game points, but behind on matchpoints - but this sort of example is not very strong because Ireland would have had different (more difficult) pairings if they had been paired on their gamepoints.

I don't think there is a clear answer. It depends on how highly you value 2.5-1.5 victories in close matches - do you value them so much that you would arguably deny the losers the chance to catch up by putting in some massive performances in their next rounds?

[IM Jack Rudd]

My preference for team matches is for them to be decided on match points. (If nothing else, I wouldn't like to be the one explaining to the media that "team A won all their matches, but didn't win the title.)

[Alex Holowczak]

Pairings for the top matches in Round 6, by my reckoning:

Russia v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Croatia
Germany v United States
Czech Republic v Spain
Philippines v Bulgaria
Bosnia & Herzegovina v China
Hungary v Poland
England v Italy
Montenegro v Ukraine
India v Israel
Slovenia (downfloat)

The usual disclaimers apply.

[Alex Holowczak]

The Olympiad ranks teams for pairing in the following way:
(1) Sort by matchpoints descending
(2) Sort by gamepoints descending
(3) Sort by PIN ascending

You then pair within matchpoint scoregroups. I'd remove (2) from the ranking.

If you did that, then these would be the pairings:
Russia v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Croatia
Germany v Ukraine
Poland v Hungary
Spain v United States
Czech Republic v China
Italy v Bulgaria
England v Slovenia
Philippines v Israel
India v Montenegro
Bosnia & Herzegovina (downfloat)

It's a matter of preference as to which pairing system is better. BUCA used the Olympiad system for its team event in 2010-2011 (without realising it) and in 2012 it removed (2) from the process. In my opinion, that gave far better pairings; at least, pairings that more resemble what you'd expect to find in an individual tournament.

By doing this, you'd avoid the kind of mismatches you get in the pairings including (2); e.g. Bosnia & Herzegovina v China. You'd also much lower the chance of top 10 teams meeting in early rounds. These things are usually seen as fundamental in individual pairing systems, so shouldn't they be seen in the same light with team systems?

[Roger de Coverly]

These things are usually seen as fundamental in individual pairing systems, so shouldn't they be seen in the same light with team systems?

If you just use match points and PIN, that's an identical rule set to individuals, is it not? The 4NCL div 3 reduced the significance of Game Points, even in tie breaks - the logic was that a team which had an early defeat would be more likely to run up a high game point score than one which had been among the leading groups from the start.

[David Sedgwick]

Pairings for the top matches in Round 6, by my reckoning:

Russia v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Croatia
Germany v United States
Czech Republic v Spain
Philippines v Bulgaria
Bosnia & Herzegovina v China
Hungary v Poland
England v Italy
Montenegro v Ukraine
India v Israel
Slovenia (downfloat)

The usual disclaimers apply.

Well done. 100% correct.

You clearly have a future as a member of the Technical Administration Panel, if the ban on both your countries is ever lifted.

[Carol Williams]

Pairings for the top matches in Round 6, by my reckoning:

Russia v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Croatia
Germany v United States
Czech Republic v Spain
Philippines v Bulgaria
Bosnia & Herzegovina v China
Hungary v Poland
England v Italy
Montenegro v Ukraine
India v Israel
Slovenia (downfloat)

The usual disclaimers apply.

Well done. 100% correct.

You clearly have a future as a member of the Technical Administration Panel, if the ban on both your countries is ever lifted.

LIKE

[Alex Holowczak]

These things are usually seen as fundamental in individual pairing systems, so shouldn't they be seen in the same light with team systems?

If you just use match points and PIN, that's an identical rule set to individuals, is it not?

Yes. Which is my point. I'm questioning the point of sorting by game points descending. It seems to introduce an element of randomness into the pairing. In round 2, Italy (24), having won 4-0, got paired against China (6), who won 3.5-0.5. In a team event, I don't see 3.5-0.5 as being much inferior to 4-0. If anything, the team that won 4-0 has been penalised by having to play China, the number 6 seed, as early as round 2.

The 4NCL div 3 reduced the significance of Game Points, even in tie breaks - the logic was that a team which had an early defeat would be more likely to run up a high game point score than one which had been among the leading groups from the start.

It has, but I don't know how much importance is placed on gamepoints when it comes to pairing, because the pairing system for the 4NCL can't be found on its website.

[Alex Holowczak]

Pairings for the top matches in Round 6, by my reckoning:

Russia v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Croatia
Germany v United States
Czech Republic v Spain
Philippines v Bulgaria
Bosnia & Herzegovina v China
Hungary v Poland
England v Italy
Montenegro v Ukraine
India v Israel
Slovenia (downfloat)

The usual disclaimers apply.

Well done. 100% correct.

You clearly have a future as a member of the Technical Administration Panel, if the ban on both your countries is ever lifted.

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 5 on 2012/09/01 at 15:00
Bo. 13 India Rtg - 11 England Rtg 2 : 2
7.1 GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707 - GM Adams, Michael 2722 ½ - ½
7.2 GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685 - GM Jones, Gawain 2653 ½ - ½
7.3 GM Negi, Parimarjan 2664 - GM Short, Nigel 2698 ½ - ½
7.4 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637 - GM Pert, Nicholas 2555 ½ - ½

Round 6 England v Italy

Bo. 44 England Rtg - 8 Armenia Rtg 1½:2½
23.1 WGM Corke, Anya 2254 - GM Danielian, Elina 2476 0 - 1
23.2 WFM Hegarty, Sarah 2120 - IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2454 0 - 1
23.3 WFM Chevannes, Sabrina 2090 - WGM Kursova, Maria 2338 ½ - ½
23.4 WFM Bhatia, Kanwal 2103 - WIM Hairapetian, Anna 2203 1 - 0

Round 6 Qatar v England

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 6 pairings:

Bo. 11 England Rtg - 22 Italy Rtg 0 : 0
8.1 GM Adams, Michael 2722 - GM Caruana, Fabiano 2773
8.2 GM Jones, Gawain 2653 - GM Godena, Michele 2516
8.3 GM Short, Nigel 2698 - GM Brunello, Sabino 2586
8.4 GM Howell, David 2635 - IM Dvirnyy, Daniyyl 2520

Bo. 102 Qatar Rtg - 44 England Rtg 0 : 0
41.1 Al-Khulaifi, Ghada 1646 - WFM Yurenok, Maria 2058
41.2 Al-Khulaifi, Fatima A. 1583 - WFM Hegarty, Sarah 2120
41.3 WCM Safar, Alshaymaa 1575 - WFM Chevannes, Sabrina 2090
41.4 Al-Khelaifi, Kholoud 1498 - WFM Bhatia, Kanwal 2103

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 6 on 2012/09/03 at 15:00
Bo. 11 England Rtg - 22 Italy Rtg 2 : 2
8.1 GM Adams, Michael 2722 - GM Caruana, Fabiano 2773 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Jones, Gawain 2653 - GM Godena, Michele 2516 0 - 1
8.3 GM Short, Nigel 2698 - GM Brunello, Sabino 2586 1 - 0
8.4 GM Howell, David 2635 - IM Dvirnyy, Daniyyl 2520 ½ - ½

Round 7 Georgia v England

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 6 on 2012/09/03 at 15:00
Bo. 101 Qatar Rtg - 44 England Rtg 0 : 4
41.1 Al-Khulaifi, Ghada 1646 - WFM Yurenok, Maria 2058 0 - 1
41.2 Al-Khulaifi, Fatima A. 1583 - WFM Hegarty, Sarah 2120 0 - 1
41.3 WCM Safar, Alshaymaa 1575 - WFM Chevannes, Sabrina 2090 0 - 1
41.4 Al-Khelaifi, Kholoud 1498 - WFM Bhatia, Kanwal 2103 0 - 1

Round 7 Ecuador v England

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 7:

Bo. 26 Georgia Rtg - 11 England Rtg 1.5 : 2.5
9.1 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2659 - GM Adams, Michael 2722 DRAW
9.2 GM Gagunashvili, Merab 2578 - GM Jones, Gawain 2653 DRAW
9.3 GM Pantsulaia, Levan 2575 - GM Short, Nigel 2698 BLACK WIN
9.4 GM Shanava, Konstantine 2569 - GM Howell, David 2635 DRAW

Bo. 32 Ecuador Rtg - 44 England Rtg 2.5 : 1.5
26.1 IM Fierro, Martha 2384 - WGM Corke, Anya 2254 DRAW
26.2 WIM Heredia, Carla 2242 - WFM Yurenok, Maria 2058 BLACK WIN
26.3 WIM Moncayo, Evelyn 2163 - WFM Hegarty, Sarah 2120 BLACK WIN
26.4 WFM Romero, Abigail 2109 - WFM Bhatia, Kanwal 2103 BLACK WIN