2016 Olympiad - Baku

[John Moore]

My idea was to get the White King to h7, but maybe Black can defend with ..g5. Still doesn't look trivial.

[John Moore]

Same thing happened after 63 Kf7.

[IanCalvert]

Without h and g pawns, the good position of Black's King , which is doubtless not accidental, with luck might result in a book (Averbakh) draw. Time seems to favour Mickey!

[John Moore]

Yes, you are right Ian. Actually 69.. h4 makes it all look very simple but also shows what a good move 58... Kh3 was.

[John Moore]

Well, now England are on 8 points and you look at some of the other teams on 8 points and you do have some doubts. Particularly since you have to play either Howell or McShane on board 2 and neither appear to be playing particularly well.

[John Moore]

Also, I see Canada beat Cuba 3-1. Maybe, our result against the Canadians wasn't so bad.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Adams was clearly lost after 56...Qb5+ - strange that his opponent didn't play 57.Qc6+ - the win is trivial to calculate, surely, or I am missing something there?

[Peter Shaw]

It's a draw after 57 Qc6 Qc6 58 Kc6 Kg3 59 a4 Kf2! - check the tablebase!

If the clock times are reliable it's pretty scary how quick they worked it out - this must be trivial for 2700's

[Simon Brown]

Yes, I missed ...Kf2. Easy draw then

[Leonard Barden]

Round 6 Chile (seeded 47, the second lowest ranked team on 8 points) v England.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Ah, yes, I see it now. Apologies for doubting Mickey!

I missed that the second black h-pawn on h5 covers the g4 square. Put that Black pawn on h6 or h7 and it is a win for White.

[Richard Bates]

Yes, I missed ...Kf2. Easy draw then

Not sure I would say "easy". I guess Q and Rp vs Q isn't a doddle.

[MJMcCready]

Incidentally, Gawain was quite brave to play the queen sacrifice. Not in the practical chess sense - I am sure he was very tempted to play it; but because England had lost so badly the day before. It would be easy in his position to imagine being blamed for another match defeat if he played an unsound queen sacrifice and lost. Such thoughts occur even to strong grandmasters and need to be resisted; which is what he did today.

I didn't follow the games after it was played. Having looked at it I cannot help but feel that white had more defensive resources at his disposal and that it was not a sound sacrifice. But being a pretty dreadful amateur who despises computer analysis I have no way of knowing, what is the consensus, has Gawain played a brilliant game or not?

[Simon Brown]

Yes, I missed ...Kf2. Easy draw then

Not sure I would say "easy". I guess Q and Rp vs Q isn't a doddle.

OK. Easy for Mickey, quite easy for you, quite tricky for the rest of us!

[Chris Rice]

There is a medal chance here. With only 6 teams now ahead of us on match points in the Open we are not doing badly at all. The idea to put Nigel Short on bottom board to score heavily seems to be working so far as he has 3.5/4.

Standings Open after Rd 5:

1= Netherlands, Ukraine, India 10
4= Czech Republic, USA, Georgia 9

7= England 8
74= Wales, Ireland 5
95= Scotland 4

Standings women after round 5:

1= Russia, Ukraine 10
3= Romania, China, Azerbaijan 9

60= England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales 5