Fantasy Chess Olympiad 2014

[Matthew Lunn]

I can't wait for this to start - anyone else planning on signing up?

http://yorkshirechess.org/fantasy-chess-olympiad-2014/

[benedgell]

Team Name: In_It_To_Win_It

My team line ups:

Men:

1: Maurice Lettsome (IVB)

2: Tony Nininahazwe (BDI)

3: Valentine Cox (BAH)

4: Mclean Handjaba (NAM)

5: Maria Varona- Thomas (GUY)

Women:

1: Nadine Nizigiymana (BDI)

2: Rose Wabuti (KEN)

3: Temahlubi Queen Dlamini (SWZ)

4: Jolly Nepando (NAM)

5: Joy Flores Whipps (PLW)

Open Section Gold winners: England

Silver: Vietnam

Bronze: Norway

Individual Gold winner: Zhong Zhang

Women's section Gold winners: England

Silver: France

Bronze: Scotland

Individual winner: Jovanka Houska

How many games at the Tromso Olympiad will begin with 1. e4 c5?: 994

[Dewi Jones]

are the russian women back in?

[Jonathan Rogers]

They had better be, I have them down for silver.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Not a great start for me - only two of my five players are even playing in the first round! And one who is, Gabriel Sargissian, is currently appearing on board one (presumably board two in future rounds) even though he was listed among the board fours. Presumably there were all sorts of mistakes in the starting lists for this competition, which is a shame.

[David Gilbert]

Not a great start for me - only two of my five players are even playing in the first round! And one who is, Gabriel Sargissian, is currently appearing on board one (presumably board two in future rounds) even though he was listed among the board fours. Presumably there were all sorts of mistakes in the starting lists for this competition, which is a shame.

I've managed four players in the Open and three in the Womens. Swaziland haven't shown up which puts the kibosh on one of Ben Edgell's In_it_to_win_it (not) team. Some countries listed their team in Board or rating order, while others were listed alphabetically. There were some obvious number ones listed among the fours and fives.

[benedgell]

Thats rather annoying. I had high hopes for Temahlubi Queen Dlamini.

[Lewis Martin]

Not a great start for me - only two of my five players are even playing in the first round! And one who is, Gabriel Sargissian, is currently appearing on board one (presumably board two in future rounds) even though he was listed among the board fours. Presumably there were all sorts of mistakes in the starting lists for this competition, which is a shame.

I've managed four players in the Open and three in the Womens. Swaziland haven't shown up which puts the kibosh on one of Ben Edgell's In_it_to_win_it (not) team. Some countries listed their team in Board or rating order, while others were listed alphabetically. There were some obvious number ones listed among the fours and fives.

There were real mistakes, that were in neither rating order or alphabetical order. For example, initially, Baklanova of ICCD Women's was listed as 4th board despite her being the strongest woman player, and listed first alphabetically. I already knew from ICCD information that she was board 1, but it did not show that there. Indeed in the real competition it was correct that she was board 1.

Notably, Lagno of Russia was listed as board 5. Alphabetically, she would have been 4th. There are many such examples.

So, the Fantasy Olympiad has been rather screwed up unfortunately.

[benedgell]

Only 2 of my picks in the Womens are playing today. So I'll have to settle for 7 points:

Maurice Lettsome is up against Henry Steel, a South African IM.
Tony Nininahazwe is up against Russel John Dive, an IM from New Zealand.
Valentine Cox is up against Espen Lie, an IM for Norway 3.
Mclean Handjabba is up against H.M.H. Nguyen, a 2500 IM for Vietnam.
Maria Varona- Thomas is up against Llambi Pasku, a 2061- rated Albanian.

Nadine Nizigyamama is up against Bahar Halleeva, a 2159- rated WFM from Turkmenistan.
Jolly Nepando is up against Elsa Maria Kristinardottir, an 1839- rated Icelandic lady.

[benedgell]

Jolly Nepando won. Think if I've read the results right Namibia have beaten Iceland, which is a great result.

[Chris Rice]

Jolly Nepando won. Think if I've read the results right Namibia have beaten Iceland, which is a great result.

Didn't Iceland win 4-0?

[benedgell]

Yup, mis- read the results. On the plus side, Turkmenistan didn't turn up, which means my other female pick got a point.

[Dewi Jones]

I think I got 21 points, which is a better start than I usually get in the fantasy footie

[benedgell]

Hopefully Mclean Handjaba can get me some points against an unrated player from Senegal today, and Rose Wabuti should have a good shot of winning on her first game in the tournament against a 1441- rated Luxembourgian lady. Sadly unless I'm missing her on the list, I don't think Joy Florres Whipps has turned up for Palau, so 2 of my female picks are awol.

[David Gilbert]

On my reckoning I managed to score 25 points yesterday. With the other 695 entries I'm waiting for official confirmation on the Yorkshire Chess website this morning. All five of my Open players are picked today, but I can only manage three in the women's section. There's still no place for Chinese star Yifan Hou, who hopefully is just being held back for the bigger clashes to come.