Batumi Olympiad

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Chess 24 says Mickey has lost, which seems unlikely. Elsewhere they have an obviously drawn position given as a win. It is confusing.

Horrendous blunder on move 63 by Duda against Caruana.

Though maybe it is the engine mis-evaluating a drawn RB vs R endgame?

[JustinHorton]

So Duda has to save an Arkell Ending to win the match!

[Jonathan Rogers]

According to Chessbomb, Caruana has messed up R + B v R again.

Again? Why yes - this was what largely cost him the Candidates back in 2016 Svidler went wrong about forty moves in, and Caruana had just enough moves left to force the mate - but didn't. And that meant that he had to win with Black in the last round rather than just draw.

[Simon Brown]

Perhaps David is waiting for someone to look at tomorrow's potential pairings to see if a win would make life easier?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Howell is winning now (move 83).

[JustinHorton]

Unless i'm mistaken, China have won and Ukraine drawn in the Women's, with the USA 2-1 up but Krush fighting to save herself against Gara

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If Duda holds (he should), then wins for Poland, China, Armenia and England (France and Germany drew). That would leave Poland on 16 points, and USA, China, Armenia and England on 15 points. Poland have played USA and Armenia, so will have to play either China or England.

One of the teams on 15 points will be downfloated to play one of the two teams on 14 points (from Russia and Croatia).

[EDIT: Oops, forgot that France and Germany are on 14 points as well.]

[JustinHorton]

The women got beat 3-1

[LawrenceCooper]

Howell is winning now (move 83).

Now 1-0 in 101 moves.

[Mick Norris]

Howell is winning now (move 83).

Now 1-0 in 101 moves.

Well done David; I see Kramnik drew but Cori won again, so David may be in silver medal position on board 3 (regardless of which, he's doing really well )

Nice to see Gawain win too, especially making Jonathan happy with a win on board 4

[JustinHorton]

Sensationally Gara is failing to beat Krush

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So what are the pairing rules? It should be easy to work out, surely? Of the four teams on 15 points, one is upfloated to play Poland, two play each other, and one is downfloated to play Russia or Croatia. I assume England can't be downfloated again?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

In the Open:

China-Poland
Armenia-USA
Russia-England

[David Robertson]

Russia, huh. The ECF Board won't like that!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not for the first time, Roger beat me to it

There are category prizes for lower ranked teams

Lewis Martin is on the CM list

And now there are lists for various norms (not yet populated, but maybe soon) and a list for Fide Master titles (I assume these are direct titles earned at a tournament or competitions such as Olympiads, rather than by rating):

Lewis Martin (ENG) is currently on the Fide Master (FM) list!

He has been winning while the ICCD team have been losing, so should be able to keep winning. Am not clear if this means he can already claim the title, or if he needs to sustain his 2300+ performance to the end of the event? [Actually, chess-results shows his rating performance as 2294 so far with 7/9.]

Martin Walker won again, to get to 6.5/8, a 2372 performance and a gain of 57 rating points, though he already has the FM title.

[EDIT: Ben Hague also doing well, with 5.5/8 and a 2446 performance.]