Batumi Olympiad

[John Moore]

Adams and McShane have drawn. Howell is equal and Jones isn't.

[David Robertson]

Peru 2 - 2 China (Chess24)

Nice story, if true - which I'm fairly sure it isn't. (Ding Liren has surely won?)

[Jonathan Rogers]

Yes, 3-1 on Chessbomb. They look a different side with Ding Liren - really quite different. Still 100% with White.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Adams and McShane have drawn. Howell is equal and Jones isn't.

Howell somewhat better and moreover in an easy position to play - whereas Jones is considerably worse, but in a position that is quite tricky from his opponent's perspective, so the situation is not as bad as all that. It was always going to be a hard fight, this one.

[David Robertson]

Cuba winning the battle of the erstwhile Socialist Republics (3 - 0 v. Albania). And wee Scotland have trounced US Virgins, 4 - 0

Lower down, Netherlands Antilles have clattered Antigua & Barbuda, 4 - 0. No big surprise, given bd 1 for the losers has an Elo of 1060. But of the rest? Not too good either: bd 3 played on Q+B down

[Jonathan Rogers]

But the women look like losing a match in which virtually every result does not reflect the earlier play.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Cuba winning the battle of the erstwhile Socialist Republics (3 - 0 v. Albania). And wee Scotland have trounced US Virgins, 4 - 0

Lower down, Netherlands Antilles have clattered Antigua & Barbuda, 4 - 0. No big surprise, given bd 1 for the losers has an Elo of 1060. But of the rest? Not too good either: bd 3 played on Q+B down

David, how much time do you have on your hands?!

[JustinHorton]

Surprised by 5...g6 in So-L'Ami, I thought it was considered an error.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Looking further down the matches, bit of a crazy game here (but good fun to play through):

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2018-ba ... Siame_Kela

Look at where the White king has ended up (currently at move 59)!

[LawrenceCooper]

Adams and McShane have drawn. Howell is equal and Jones isn't.

Howell somewhat better and moreover in an easy position to play - whereas Jones is considerably worse, but in a position that is quite tricky from his opponent's perspective, so the situation is not as bad as all that. It was always going to be a hard fight, this one.

David has won so the team leads 2-1

[David Robertson]

David, how much time do you have on your hands?!

LOL. I was thinking earlier that I hadn't given enough time to the games. Then I started browsing, and became intrigued (in a kind way) about the chess-craziness of the Olympiad (the uselessness of many teams) compared with the fabulous Olympic ideal of pitching peoples against each other who would otherwise never meet: Jamaica v. Turkmenistan, for instance; Venezuela v. Syria; Mali v Kyrgyzstan and so on.

And where, or what, or who is Sao Tome & Principe, for whom the wonderfully named Patricia Espirito Santo plays? Plays, but with work to do, as her rd 1 game reveals:

1 e4 e5; 2 Nc3 Nf6; 3 Bc4 Bc5; 4 Nf3 d6; 5 Ng5 (ah ha!) Bxf2+; 6 Kxf2 Ng4+; 7 Qxg4 (hhmm....nominative determinism won't save her now!)

[Roger de Coverly]

Surprised by 5...g6 in So-L'Ami, I thought it was considered an error.

The recent NIC Yearbook headlines Luke Mcshane's ideas in steering for positions in the style of the Kings Indian from the Spanish. The chessbomb stockfish doesn't like it, but I don't think it rates a lower evaluation than "provocative". A search for previous games unearths So v Nakamura from 2015, so that may also have influenced the opening choice.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O g6 6. d4 Bd7 7. d5 Ne7 8. Bxd7+ Nxd7 9. c4 Bg7 10. Be3 h6 11. Nfd2 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Bf2 g5 14. Nc3 Ng6 15. c5 Nxc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Qb3 b6 18. d6 Qxd6 19. Nc4 Qc6 20. Rfd1 Nf8 21. Rd5 Ne6 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 23. Rxe5 c4 24. Qa3 Kf7 25. Rf5+ Kg6 26. Nd5 Qc5+ 27. Qxc5 Nxc5 28. Rf6+ Kg7 29. Rc6 Rhe8 30. Rxc7+ Kg6 31. h4 Rad8 32. h5+ Kxh5 33. Nf6+ Kh4 34. Nxe8 Rxe8 35. Kh2 g4 36. Rh1 g3+ 37. Kg1+ Kg5 38. Kf1 Rd8 39. Ke2 Ne6 40. Rxc4 Nd4+ 41. Ke1 h5 42. Rc7 Kg6 43. Rc3 Kg5 44. Rd3 h4 45. Kd1 a5 46. a4 Rd6 47. e5 Rd8 48. Rd2 Kh5 49. Re1 h3 50. gxh3 Kh4 51. e6 Nxe6 52. Rxe6

The stockfish considers 18. d6 a mistake, after which Black is briefly better. The subsequent "red" move is 20. .. Nf8 .

[Roger de Coverly]

And where, or what, or who is Sao Tome & Principe

A previously uninhabited pair of islands off the African coast, which became a Portuguese colony until independence in 1975. One of FIDE's newer members I suspect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugues ... C3%ADncipe

A name full of accents if done prooperly.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Looking further down the matches, bit of a crazy game here (but good fun to play through):

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2018-ba ... Siame_Kela

Look at where the White king has ended up (currently at move 59)!

Oh dear. Commentator's curse. Still, might end up seeing if Black knows how to mate with knight and bishop...

(I can't watch any more, more swings in the evaluation than, er, swings and roundabouts.)

[Leonard Barden]

What does the tablebase say about Gawain's ending?