2016 Olympiad - Baku

[Kevin Thurlow]

"If you were looking for interesting local derbies, you presumably missed match 53 of Round 9: Iraq v Syria!"

Well yes... and now we have USA v Canada. I doubt that's happened in the last round before, (knowing that someone will now feel compelled to find out!)

But Guernsey - Jersey was interesting as I have made many trips to the Channel Islands and don't intend to visit either Iraq or Syria.

I always think the great thing about the Olympiad is the opportunity to play some interesting countries. There are several local derbies today, (Bosnia-FYROM e.g.), but Liechtenstein - Eritrea is not one of them.

[IanCalvert]

Kevin

USA v Canada, I guess Canada will rarely have won against the USA at chess and perhaps now is not the time!

To (conceivably) build one wall is (at least) unfortunate to build two...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Bad start for India as their board 4 has lost already (I think the last round started at 8am UK time, but am not quite sure about that).

Unfortunately, the England Open team appear to be showing signs of nerves, or the Peru team are rising to the occasion. Level on boards 1 and 2. Small advantage for Short on board 4. Larger minus assessment for Jones on board 3.

Howell ahead on time!!

[Thomas Rendle]

It doesn't look all that bad to me! I think the advantage on 4 is more than the slight disadvantage on 3. I also like David's chances, especially if the clock times are to be believed!

[Matthew Turner]

India's loss of board 4 is remarkable - hard to believe that from a 2640.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Yeah, I don't really understand what is going on. Assessments fluctuating. England do look to have nosed ahead now.

[Thomas Rendle]

Yes, very odd miscalculation in that match, I didn't understand what he could miss - I guess these early starts can affect anyone!

[JustinHorton]

Conceivably because the bishop was behind the knight he'd forgotten all about it, not considered that it had any influence over e5, that kind of thing.

[JustinHorton]

Incidentally Lesiege blunder's against So is worth a look, and it's one that might cost Canada the match.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Howell and Cori are both in immense time trouble. I fear the result may be rather random there.

[JustinHorton]

Also apparently random are the assessments of Stockfish in that game

[Thomas Rendle]

I'd be surprised if we didn't get 1.5/2 or more from Mickey + Nigel from here, possibly I'd even be disappointed with only 1.5 ...

[JustinHorton]

Draw for Gawain. England better in all three remaining games but David's is very loseable and I'm not sure Nigel has a clear way forward.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Jones has drawn. Difficult to follow Short's game as the knight has turned into a king and the real Black king has donned a cloak of invisibility. Adams looks to have won. Am refusing to watch board 2. Too stressful.

[Roger de Coverly]

Adams looks to have won. Am refusing to watch board 2. Too stressful.

It's not as if anything has really happened on board 2, just the players getting their pieces into position. That can be one of the most time consuming games to play though when the best squares are not obviously apparent.