FIDE Online Olympiad 22 July to 30 August 2020

[LawrenceCooper]

Was Martin Petrov really the junior player for Bulgaria?? He seems to have been around forever.

There are a lot of Bulgarians with that surname! Were you thinking of this one though: https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2901773

The one who played today is this one: https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2911086

[John Moore]

Romania was really the crucial match. Normally, Mickey would have converted his plus and if Aksheya had found 39 .. Ra7 - ah well. The win against Armenia was certainly a high point.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Was Martin Petrov really the junior player for Bulgaria?? He seems to have been around forever.

There are a lot of Bulgarians with that surname! Were you thinking of this one though: https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2901773

The one who played today is this one: https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2911086

That would explain a lot!

[Leonard Barden]

So, the now traditional 1-5 score. Given that this is likely to be the England team's only international event in 2020, it is disappointing that probably only Jovanka and Gawain played to near their best standards. Others seemed underprepared.

Didn't Howell do quite well too? (I haven't checked).

You're right, Howell had 6.5/9 to Jones 7/11. The weak link in the top four was Luke with 4.5/8 overall and 1/4 this week.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Romania was really the crucial match. Normally, Mickey would have converted his plus and if Aksheya had found 39 .. Ra7 - ah well. ....

... and if we had then played miles better against Bulgaria ...!

[John Moore]

Well, yes, but after Romania we could no longer qualify and there must have been some disappointment before the Bulgarian match.

[Jonathan Rogers]

another way of looking at it -we only lost one match which we might have won. But we won two which we could easily have lost (Turkey and Armenia) and we won at least another by 3.5-2.5 too.

But yes, it would have been exciting had we beaten Romania. And some praise is due for beating Armenia at this format - no doubting the spirit of the team, who were obviously eager to give it a go, despite the odds, today,

[Mick Norris]

As usual, no idea what people expect from the players we have got

We got out of Div 2 behind Hungary who have gone on to do well in Div 1

Will we be in Div 2 again if they repeat the format?

[Leonard Barden]

Don't think you can blame it on a single match, the overall performance is what matters.

Some of the eight senior players, men and women, were below or well below their best form but all eight managed a plus score overall from the B and top group matches.

In contrast, three of the four juniors had minus totals- Wadsworth 4/10, Kalaiyalahan 4/12, Willow 3/8. Jaufarally had 4/6 but against easier opposition.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya (ENG) - Sargsyan, Anna M. (ARM)

1-0

FIDE Online Olympiad Division 1 - Pool C 2020 round 07

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 f6 3. c4 c6 4. Nbd2 Bf5 5. e3 e6 6. Qb3 Qc7 7. Be2 Nd7 8. Nh4 Bg6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. g3 f5 11. O-O Ngf6 12. Qd1 g5 13. Nf3 g4 14. Nd2 g5 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Re1 Bd6 17. Nf1 Ne4 18. Bd2 Ndf6 19. Qa4+ Kf7 20. Bb4 Nxf2 21. Kxf2 Rxh2+ 22. Nxh2 Ne4+ 23. Kg2 Bxb4 24. Nf1 Bxe1 25. Rxe1 Rh8 26. Bd3 Kf6 27. Bxe4 dxe4 28. Qd1 Qh7 29. Kf2 Qh1 30. d5 Rd8 31. Qd4+ e5 32. Qb4 b6 33. a4 Kf7 34. Rc1 f4 35. Rc7+ Kg6 36. Rc6+ Kf5 37. Qe7 1-0

That is a striking final position!

[LawrenceCooper]

If at the start of the event we'd been offered winning 13 of the first 16 matches and a 2.5-1.5 lead against the third seeds in our group having just beaten the second then I'd have definitely taken that. No one will be more frustrated at not qualifying than the players. They all played their part and each one had at least one memorable result, be it on rating or to help decide a crucial match.

[Nick Grey]

Well said all. We ought to put more funds to support.

[NickFaulks]

Well said all. We ought to put more funds to support.

I think our team generally performed pretty well. Are you suggesting that they would have played better if paid more money?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Assume that Nick G is joking. We seem to be one of the very few countries to regularly play its best possible team these days.

When Leonard alerted me to just how weak France were, I wondered why. Perhaps the answer is that the top players want fees also when they play speed games at home? Which, as long time forumites know, I would be very happy with paying if there were a sponsor, but surely the ECF has not been paying for this from its own funds at this particular time?

[Mick Norris]

China v Ukraine winner plays USA
Hungary v Germany winner plays Russia
Bulgaria v Poland winner plays Azerbaijan
Greece v Armenia winner plays India