English Chess Forum

LawrenceCooper wrote:The joys of being a captain

Thanks Loz. Anyway, Ukraine tomorrow, yet again not on the live boards

Akito drew, thank goodness (via a completely lost position....). My apologies to Akito for the un-necessary stress.

And the match is halved....

Draw for Pavel as well. High tension on board 4. Earlier on Akito had wanted to draw, asked me as manager if it was OK and I asked him to play on as Pavel's game was at the time unclear but starting to look a bit iffy for Pavel. Then Akito's opponent asked his manager if he could take a draw; my opp...

Draw for Adam, happy enough given he was playing with black today

Another draw for Matthew - either side of the time control his opponent basically swapped everything off to get down to a dead level opposite coloured bishop endgame. An OK result for Matthew given the Turkish players rating performance in the event is around 2450 - though given he was playing with ...

Now approaching the 3 hour mark - Matthew definitely a bit better over the board now. Down to his increment with about three moves to make to the time control... - Adams game very even, I expect he will offer a draw once he gets past (imminently) his 30th move. (Sofia rules apply, albeit with the th...

Round 5 is now two hours in. As expected we are playing Turkey B. All four games are pretty even so far. - Matthew is probably slightly worse over the board (though certainly not decisively so), and yet again has put himself under time pressure (about 12 minutes plus the increments to make 12 moves ...

Matthew drew - he forced his opponent to bail out with a perpetual - so a good result for Matthew personally (playing with black against a previously 100% GM). But obviously the team result is a bit disappointing. Onwards and upwards....now into the second half of the tournament. I imagine we will h...

Adam and Akito have just lost

Update: Pavel has, sadly, lost. The other three are still going. But not looking good for Adam, some slim draw chances perhaps. Akito also has some draw chances. All three results still available for Matthew...

OK so all four games are now through the 40 move time control (in every case other than Akito, by the collective skin of their teeth!): - Matthews game is still very even, very hard to judge who really has an edge. Matthew has Q, B & N against Q and 2Ns. 6 pawns each - Adam is in a N and pawn endgam...

Three hours in: - not much has changed in Matthews game other than the clock. He now has ten mins to make about 8 moves to the time control, his GM opponent about 17 minutes. GM would probably claim to have the better position but there isnt much in it. - Adam is now a pawn down going into the endga...

So, at about 2.5 hours in the state of play is as follows: - Matthews game looks pretty even. Material level, all the rooks and one minor piece each are off the board. Matthew has the bishop pair and control of the only open file; his GM opponent has more space. For a change, Matthew is not signific...

Round 4 now underway. Germany have selected their 2050ish rated reserve to play on board 4 against Akito (who is the only board 4 player on 3/3 in the entire event). So whilst not being complacent, we are hoping Akito can maintain his 100% record in his game whilst a couple of the others get somethi...

Fantastic result. You'll have to eat out more often :) Thanks Lawrence. I am typing this at a restaurant in town - this time celebratory! And the team pairings are out - tomorrow we have 4th seeds Germany (again sadly not on a live board). Given they have a sub not yet clear what team they will put...