Olympiad

[Chris Rice]

According to this Times article Judit Polgar, has decided to retire from chess. She wasn't playing much these days anyway and it may have been the loss to the young American Sam Shankland in Round 8 that's proved the straw. Pity though, I watched her play at Hastings one year and destroy Polugayevsky, she was bloody fantastic.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/puzzles/c ... 174361.ece

[Paul Dargan]

Re: Polgar retirement - I suspect the danger of no longer being the top-rated woman in the world could have been the determining factor. Best to go out at the top.

Shame - but fully understandable.

Paul

[Matt Mackenzie]

Yes a pity, especially given that she is still only 38. I do suspect, though, that she could be the first of a few in the fairly near future.

[Tim Harding]

Last round pairings for the olympiad are up at chess-results.com tonight.
Unsurprisingly, Carlsen, Short and Judit Polgar are not playing, so Judit has played her last serious international game.
Scotland have omitted McNab. Ireland have omitted Mark Heidenfeld for the match v Wales, no doubt because Daly is doing well.

Top board match-ups of the round look like:
Wojtaszek-Wang Yue in match 1.
Kramnik v Vachier-Lagrave
Mamedyarov-Nakamura
Dominguez-Adams
Gelfand-Saric [the conqueror of Magnus]

Games start 10am BST. Enjoy and learn!

[Eoin Devane]

Looking forward to seeing how the Poland-China match plays out. The Poles have their best player, Wojtaszek, and their most in-form player, Duda, both playing white, which is probably the situation that gives them the best chance in the match. If they can both continue their good form maybe they could produce a shock. China's SB tie-break advantage over Hungary probably means that a match draw would be enough to seal the title - I wonder if that fact will influence their approach?

Duda-Yu is also interesting since it's second against first in the board prize standings. Yu Yangyi has quite a big performance lead though, so possibly even a win wouldn't be enough for Duda to overhaul him.

[John McKenna]

Last round pairings for the olympiad are up at chess-results.com tonight.
Unsurprisingly, Carlsen, Short and Judit Polgar are not playing, so Judit has played her last serious international game.
Scotland have omitted McNab. Ireland have omitted Mark Heidenfeld for the match v Wales, no doubt because Daly is doing well.

Top board match-ups of the round look like:
Wojtaszek-Wang Yue in match 1.
Kramnik v Vachier-Lagrave
Mamedyarov-Nakamura
Dominguez-Adams
Gelfand-Saric [the conqueror of Magnus]

Games start 10am BST. Enjoy and learn!

Tim Harding, "... Daly is doing well."
Here's an example -

[Event "Tromso 41st Ol."] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Daly, Colm (FM 2323 IRL)"] [Black "Toufighi, Homayoon (GM 2424 IRI)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2323"] [BlackElo "2424"] [PlyCount "135"] 1.d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Qb6 9. Qd2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Bb5 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 a6 13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Rb3 Qe7 15. Rxb7 Qd8 16. Bb6 Qc8 17. Rc7 Qd8 18. Rb7 Qh4+ 19. Bf2 Qe7 20. Bd4 Rc8 21. O-O Qa3 22. Rfb1 Bc5 23. Ne2 Bb5 24. Rb3 Bxd4+ 25. Nxd4 Qc5 26. Qb4 O-O 27. a4 Be8 28. a5 Qxb4 29. R3xb4 Rc5 30. Ra7 Bb5 31. h3 h6 32. Rb7 Ra8 33. Kf2 Be8 34. Re7 Rac8 35. Rbb7 Rc4 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kf2 R3c4 38. Ke3 Rc3+ 39. Ke2 Kf8 40. f5 R8c4 41. f6 Rc8 42. Kf2 R3c4 43. Nxe6+ fxe6 44. Rxg7 Rf4+ 45. Kg1 Rf5 46. h4 Rf4 47. g3 Re4 48. Rh7 Rg4 49. f7 Bxf7 50. Rhxf7+ Kg8 51. Kg2 Rc3 52. Rf3 Rxc2+ 53. Kh3 Re4 54. Rf6 Rxe5 55. Rg6+ Kf8 56. Rxh6 Kg8 57. Rhh7 Rc8 58. Rbg7+ Kf8 59. Ra7 Kg8 60. Rhg7+ Kf8 61. Rgd7 Rf5 62. Rxa6 Re8 63. Raa7 Rf6 64. a6 e5 65. Rh7 Kg8 66. Rag7+ Kf8 67. a7 Ra6 68. Rb7 1-0

Looking forward to seeing how the Poland-China match plays out. The Poles have their best player, Wojtaszek, and their most in-form player, Duda, both playing white, which is probably the situation that gives them the best chance in the match. If they can both continue their good form maybe they could produce a shock. China's SB tie-break advantage over Hungary probably means that a match draw would be enough to seal the title - I wonder if that fact will influence their approach?

Duda-Yu is also interesting since it's second against first in the board prize standings. Yu Yangyi has quite a big performance lead though, so possibly even a win wouldn't be enough for Duda to overhaul him.

China and Poland should both play to win, though a draw may still be the end result.
Hungary may find it harder not to lose to Ukraine who could yet gain a top-three place.

[Chris Rice]

I would assume that our medal hopes, Adams, Howell & Sadler will be looking for wins. However, as we're Black on 1 & 3 that's not likely to help so you get the feeling there will be 4 draws here as all 4 boards look evenly matched on Elo's:

Bo. 13 Cuba (CUB) Rtg - 10 England (ENG) Rtg 0 : 0
7.1 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2760 - GM Adams, Michael 2740
7.2 GM Bruzon Batista, Lazaro 2664 - GM Jones, Gawain C B 2665
7.3 GM Quesada Perez, Yuniesky 2649 - GM Howell, David W L 2650
7.4 GM Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo 2603 - GM Sadler, Matthew D 2653

England have to be heavy favourites in the women's against Wales and a win would pretty much leave England around 39th place where there they were seeded:

Bo. 39 England (ENG) Rtg - 67 Wales (WLS) Rtg 0 : 0
27.1 IM Houska, Jovanka 2401 - WFM Richmond, Jane 2085
27.2 WIM Chevannes, Sabrina L 2171 - WFM Smith, Olivia 1968
27.3 Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya 2016 - WFM Blackburn, Suzie G. 1971
27.4 WFM James, Ann-Marie 2095 - WCM Roberts, Lynda 1920

[stevencarr]

According to this Times article Judit Polgar, has decided to retire from chess. She wasn't playing much these days anyway and it may have been the loss to the young American Sam Shankland in Round 8 that's proved the straw. Pity though, I watched her play at Hastings one year and destroy Polugayevsky, she was bloody fantastic.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/puzzles/c ... 174361.ece

I saw her give a simul in Munich in 1989, and she played extremely well.

And very sharply - every move seemed to be putting her opponents under pressure. I was amazed how quickly she saw opportunities to sharpen the game and create chances for herself.

At the time, there were very realistic chances that she could one day win the Men's World Championship. Already at that early age, everybody knew that there was just no point in her going for the Women's World Championship.

I wasn't playing in the simul. I was playing Sofia Polgar in a blitz game where she was playing blindfold, and I was Black. I lost on the Black side of a Latvian Gambit.

[JustinHadi]

[Event "Tromso 41st Ol."] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Daly, Colm (FM 2323 IRL)"] [Black "Toufighi, Homayoon (GM 2424 IRI)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2323"] [BlackElo "2424"] [PlyCount "135"] 1.d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Qb6 9. Qd2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Bb5 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 a6 13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Rb3 Qe7 15. Rxb7 Qd8 16. Bb6 Qc8 17. Rc7 Qd8 18. Rb7 Qh4+ 19. Bf2 Qe7 20. Bd4 Rc8 21. O-O Qa3 22. Rfb1 Bc5 23. Ne2 Bb5 24. Rb3 Bxd4+ 25. Nxd4 Qc5 26. Qb4 O-O 27. a4 Be8 28. a5 Qxb4 29. R3xb4 Rc5 30. Ra7 Bb5 31. h3 h6 32. Rb7 Ra8 33. Kf2 Be8 34. Re7 Rac8 35. Rbb7 Rc4 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kf2 R3c4 38. Ke3 Rc3+ 39. Ke2 Kf8 40. f5 R8c4 41. f6 Rc8 42. Kf2 R3c4 43. Nxe6+ fxe6 44. Rxg7 Rf4+ 45. Kg1 Rf5 46. h4 Rf4 47. g3 Re4 48. Rh7 Rg4 49. f7 Bxf7 50. Rhxf7+ Kg8 51. Kg2 Rc3 52. Rf3 Rxc2+ 53. Kh3 Re4 54. Rf6 Rxe5 55. Rg6+ Kf8 56. Rxh6 Kg8 57. Rhh7 Rc8 58. Rbg7+ Kf8 59. Ra7 Kg8 60. Rhg7+ Kf8 61. Rgd7 Rf5 62. Rxa6 Re8 63. Raa7 Rf6 64. a6 e5 65. Rh7 Kg8 66. Rag7+ Kf8 67. a7 Ra6 68. Rb7 1-0

That's an excellent game by Mr Daly.

I have to say the commentary by Trent and Gustafsson has been really first rate.

[JustinHorton]

Right, who's got the most windows open? I have only five. (China/commentary, Hungary, Russia women, Adams, Topalov.)

[Barry Sandercock]

Which website is that ? I can't get them on chessBomb.

[JustinHorton]

chess24.com

[Barry Sandercock]

Thanks Justin. Looks like four tough games today for England.

[JustinHorton]

China already not too far off their two points.

[Lewis Martin]

David Howell has got a rather amusing position with all pawns on the board and have not moved off their own files, except for one white f-pawn on g3.

Sadler looks drawish. Jones looks very dodgy. Adams is probably better, but still plenty of play in that game.

Aronian beat Navara so that's more or less him out of contention for the medal board 1 places.