English Chess Forum

NickFaulks wrote:Looks like England are going for the old win with White, draw with Black. Speelman's done his bit. Trouble is, I rather like the look of Black on board four.

edit More so now, if Keith really had to play 18.Rd2, then something had gone very wrong.

With board 1 also drawn, there's a lot depending on John Nunn. I have faith we won't finish worse than 2-2.

It's a pity we cannot see how the second team and the Scots are doing until the round is over.

It's good to see the Austrians giving Russia a good fight in the 65+ section. They are hosts for the Senior Teams in July so will want to do well.
The Russians put Vasiukov (who's over 80) on top board, maybe because they reckon he will get more short draws then on his reputation than some of the others.

And Stohl will presumably want to avoid 22...Nd7 23.e6. I certainly like this one. (Generally, Nunn having White in this game had always seemed quite important to me). But maybe 22...Ne4 23 Ne4 de4 24.Qd8 Rd8 25 Be4 Be4 26 Re4 g5 gives Black enough counterplay for the pawn. So White keeps queens on at move 24, perhaps?

Jonathan Rogers wrote:I am more optimistic than Nick about Keith's chances.

Looks lost to me?

well the knight comes out at a3, which may look naff but it will soon regroup. It is Black who needs to find a follow-up.

Bit mean of John to take the draw, I think. Leaves Keith sitting there by himself.

Has Nunn really just agreed a draw? What happened there?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Has Nunn really just agreed a draw? What happened there?

John didn't really get enough in the opening and probably feared he could end up worse if he exchanged pawns on d5: both of Black's bishops would have lovely diagonals.

So we are going down 2.5-1.5 and won't be on the live match for a couple of days. It will probably be Germany-Slovakia tomorrow which could be interesting.

Are the pairings done on game points or match points?

Hmmm, yes. Seems that everyone else is right about Keith's game after all. I had over looked that after 25 Re1 Re8 26 Na3 Black now has ...Bd2.

I don't think there's much in John's position, but given the match score and Keith's position that's a bit of a weird time to offer the draw.

I may have this completely wrong, but England today does not look like a cohesive team

NickFaulks wrote:I may have this completely wrong, but England today does not look like a cohesive team

Look at the opposition, though. Ftacnik and Stohl are strong GMs who annotate games regularly for ChessBase. Timoscenko was educated in the Soviet system (once played in the Hastings premier) and is no mug either. He is probably playing more regularly than Jon Speelman.

It's Keith's failure to develop his QN (only now at move 28) that I don't understand.

Not a good day but not to panic. The worst thing would be to reason that first place might already be out of their hands, if Slovakia keeps on playing like this, and to get deflated. Instead, one has to carry on under the assumption that they Slovaks will slip up, and to remember that they are more likely to do so if England in the meantime exerts pressure by continuing with some 4-0 victories.

Tim Harding wrote:

NickFaulks wrote:I may have this completely wrong, but England today does not look like a cohesive team

Look at the opposition, though. Ftacnik and Stohl are strong GMs who annotate games regularly for ChessBase. Timoscenko was educated in the Soviet system (once played in the Hastings premier) and is no mug either. He is probably playing more regularly than Jon Speelman.

It's Keith's failure to develop his QN (only now at move 28) that I don't understand.

Agreed. Bd5+ was rather strange with his army still half developed. I gave this move the benefit of the doubt at the time, but Black has been able to get a winning position by calmly playing reasonably obvious moves.

Keith has played a horrible game, but that can happen to anyone. The other team members are supposed to make some effort to cover for you.

Jonathan Rogers wrote:Not a good day but not to panic. The worst thing would be to reason that first place might already be out of their hands, if Slovakia keeps on playing like this, and to get deflated. Instead, one has to carry on under the assumption that they Slovaks will slip up, and to remember that they are more likely to do so if England in the meantime exerts pressure by continuing with some 4-0 victories.

Tomorrow Slovakia will probably play Germany (second seeds) and I suppose we must hope for a draw or a narrow German win.
England need a win. Then in round 6 or 7 we will get Germany and must win.

Fourth seeds Scotland will also provide tough opposition. England could get them in the next round and the Slovaks and Germans will probably have to meet them before the end.

The last two or three rounds will come down to which teams can hammer their opponents hardest.