44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

[Keith Arkell]

Carlsen's position today ( rd 3) after his 19th move highlights a big difference between engines and humans. The engine says the position is equal but Black has a lovely position from this mere GM's perspective - my reasoning being that ultimately the struggle will revolve around Black's aims to play...e5!

[Keith Arkell]

To elaborate: all White's pieces are tied down to preventing ...e5,and meanwhile Black can toy with various breaks ( ...a4,...b4...h4).

[Roger de Coverly]

Fans of "what nonsense is Jobava going to play today" will not be disappointed

The setup with 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. 0-0 e5 can be difficult to know how to meet. Many options effectively leave you playing Black admittedly with an extra tempo. My personal solution was to play 4. d4 leaving it open as to whether c4, e4 or both would be played.

[JustinHorton]

Online coverage invites me to believe that Mickey's opponent has preferred 37...Rxb2 to 37...Nxf4+ (and in fact I'm not believing 36. Re4 Qf4 was played either).

[Nick Burrows]

This will be a hard game for Akshaya to swallow.

[NickFaulks]

However, I am at a loss to understand why he is defending Margaret Murphy's behaviour.

Now you have gone public you really need to explain to the Forum, as well as to me, what you think this "behaviour" is. Otherwise your comment is merely the same gratuitous libel for which Nigel Short has been sanctioned by Ethics Commission.

[JustinHorton]

England beat Lithuania by the minimum margin. Austria have beaten Germany. Mongolia are about to beat the USA in the women's tournament.

[Roger de Coverly]

To elaborate: all White's pieces are tied down to preventing ...e5,and meanwhile Black can toy with various breaks ( ...a4,...b4...h4).

In the event, Carlsen was unable to prove the engine wrong or induce a serious error by White.

[MJMcCready]

That was down to some very solid late middle game and endgame play by his Italian opponent in a sharp position.

[JustinHorton]

Guatemala are going to lose to Serbia but this is a sensational result

[Matt Mackenzie]

Guatemala are going to lose to Serbia but this is a sensational result

A worthy addition to his 28 (yes, TWENTY EIGHT) national titles.

[MJMcCready]

I think Jobava deserves a medal for his own individual performance today. How on earth he can play the opening like that then draw against Caruana is way beyond me. Only he could pull that off!

[MJMcCready]

Fans of "what nonsense is Jobava going to play today" will not be disappointed

The setup with 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. 0-0 e5 can be difficult to know how to meet. Many options effectively leave you playing Black admittedly with an extra tempo. My personal solution was to play 4. d4 leaving it open as to whether c4, e4 or both would be played.

Svidler and Leko were not at all impressed after Ne1 and seemed to think no one else other than Jobava would dare play it.

[Roger de Coverly]

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.

I've been following his games. He seems to be getting decent positions immediately after the opening, as observed by the watching Stockfish, but then it goes wrong, in some cases horribly. Personally I wouldn't play the Morra Gambit and the Dutch regardless of the opposition but it's sort of worked for him in the early stages. I could imagine at the age of 70 plus, really sharp openings might best be avoided for fear of miscalculation or failing to follow up any advantage.

[MJMcCready]

It seems like in this Olympiad there are a few countries that we don't normally see. I don't recall seeing Laos at the Olympiad before.