Olympiad

[Stewart Reuben]

The players, delegates, arbiters, councillors (like me) etc., all receive free hospitality. A visitor of course has far higher expenses.
Norway is expensive. Alcohol is expensive. All this was explained. Some federations, like The Gambia, are also getting free travel. That depends on their financial position, it is not political.
It is an expensive event to organise. That is why it was only held twice in England in the early days, in the usual trail-blazing way we have.

It is cheaper to hold the event in Europe as the air fare cost is lower on the average. But that is unfair. The British has a similar problem. From the point of view of the air fare, the cheapest place to hold the African Championship is in London.

[NickFaulks]

councillors (like me) etc., all receive free hospitality.

really?

[Stewart Reuben]

I think so, although it occurs to me I am actually a commission secretary, as are you.

[Chris Rice]

All the way from Aberystwyth to Tromso for an England v Wales encounter in round 1! The England ladies are playing Malta.

[Matthew Turner]

Just been to the official website. Lead article lavish opening ceremony with Norwegian Minister of Finance. Second article Yorkshire Chess announce Fantasy Olympiad!

[Matthew Turner]

Is it just me, I couldn't find the pairings on the official site - I had to go to chess-results.

[Chris Rice]

I was going to mention that the official site is not very informative at the moment. I got the pairings from Susan Polgar's twitter feed.

[David Gilbert]

I was going to mention that the official site is not very informative at the moment. I got the pairings from Susan Polgar's twitter feed.

How can Judith Polgar beat the official site to the draw? Well she did!

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/ ... rings.html

[David Gilbert]

Will the England team rest Michael Adams for the first round?

[Mike Truran]

Apologies if I missed it, but how did the visa problems get sorted out?

[John McKenna]

When push comes to shove strings can be pulled.

[David Gilbert]

Bo. 10 England (ENG) Rtg - 96 Wales (WLS) Rtg 0 : 0
10.1 GM Jones, Gawain C B 2665 - IM Jones, Richard S. 2414
10.2 GM Short, Nigel D 2665 - Kett, Tim 2244
10.3 GM Howell, David W L 2650 - Sands, David A 2210
10.4 GM Sadler, Matthew D 2653 - Rayner, Francis 2177

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 106 Malta (MLT) Rtg - 39 England (ENG) Rtg

37.1 WFM Pulpan, Oana 1846 - WIM Maroroa, Sue 2120
37.2 WCM Aguilar, Filipina 1820 - WIM Chevannes, Sabrina L 2171
37.3 Klotz, Jutta 0 - Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya 2016
37.4 WCM Farrugia, Jamie 1541 - WFM James, Ann-Marie 2095

Good luck to both our teams

[John McKenna]

And, some luck could be wished to the men of Harlech and women of Melita - they'll need all they can get.

[David Gilbert]

Apologies if I missed it, but how did the visa problems get sorted out?

There's no indication of the cause, but several nations have not been included in the first round draw, while others appear to have fewer than a team of four at the moment. This isn't new and has happened in previous Chess Olympiads, but the Norwegians are bound to get the blame!