Batumi Olympiad

[Jonathan Rogers]

FWIW, the finishing positions for England in the Olympiads from 1976 (after the grouping system ended) to the present day are:

1976 3
1978 12
1980 6
1982 10
1984 2
1986 2
1988 2
1990 3
1992 10
1994 4
1996 4
1998 11
2000 7
2002 7
2004 30
2006 19
2008 15
2010 24
2012 17
2014 28
2016 9
2018 5

That's useful, even though I would also like to know how many of the top ten and top twenty we played on each occasion!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Ah, I get what you mean now. I'll leave you to do a relative comparison over the last 30+ years.

Data from Olimpbase.

In Olympiads at least, the period from 2004 to 2014 was dire in terms of finishing positions.

[Roger de Coverly]

1992 10

At the time, that was considered a poor result. The reality hadn't really dawned that rather than have to cope with one Soviet Union team, which you might beat on a good day, or even outscore, there were now about half a dozen of them, all credible top 10 performers.

[Matt Mackenzie]

You could add the old Yugoslavia splitting up into a few decent teams as well.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

To answer my earlier question, 5th place at this Olympiad is the best result by the England Open team at an Olympiad since 4th place in 1996 (some 22 years ago), and the best result in all team competitions since 4th place in 2001 (some 17 years ago) in the European Teams (unless there are other team events I am forgetting).

[Sorry for focusing on the statistics of the Open team and its history here - there has been less focus on the women's team and event here, though there has been some - anyone want to take a dispassionate look at where this performance ranks for the England women's team (seeded 25th and finished 29th with a good win in the final round)? That is not even mentioning the drama that occurred in the top match in the women's event! Russia will be traumatised by that.]

[In the Open event, seven GM norms and eleven IM norms.]

[Nick Burrows]

Roger - should we double the membership fee to offer Doctor Nunn a well paid 6 year contract?

[Roger de Coverly]

Roger - should we double the membership fee to offer Doctor Nunn a well paid 6 year contract?

I'm the wrong person to ask that question of, as it remains my view that individual membership fees should be abolished with the exception of Platinum membership. The main idea is to promote participation by new or occasional players without imposing unnecessary barriers to entry.

As pointed out by the new FIDE president and one of his rivals, the FIDE model is one of financing chess by taxation, which is also the model embraced by the ECF.

[Mick Norris]

Ah, I get what you mean now. I'll leave you to do a relative comparison over the last 30+ years.

Data from Olimpbase.

In Olympiads at least, the period from 2004 to 2014 was dire in terms of finishing positions.

Which begs the question of what changed, what is going right and what can be done to continue this

And then, to bring back to your other point, what lessons can be learned from and for the Women's team

[Nick Burrows]

Which begs the question of what changed, what is going right and what can be done to continue this

Listening to the players take on proceedings could be revealing. Was there a true word spoken in Davids jest - has being freed from the presence of our greatest (and greatest outspoken) player increased team cohesion?

What was the influence of the prescence of the calm, knowledgeable, experienced and well liked John Nunn?

[Angus French]

I think really though our last two Olympiad performances have been par performances. As Jonathan R said somewhere above, we beat the teams who on paper were weaker than us, drew with the team we matched and lost to the more highly rated; we were also a little lucky with the draw in only facing two of the stronger sides. Collectively the players lost an ELO rating point or so... Still, the run of poor results has definitely ended.

[Richard Bates]

Deleted

[Roger de Coverly]

I think really though our last two Olympiad performances have been par performances.

With six players in the world top 100, regularly finishing in the top ten should be achievable.

What we are missing was seen in the match against Russia. Kramnik should have had to face his drinking pal of twenty five years ago, Adams, with teenage or early twenties superstars or potential superstars on 1 and 2. Experienced players Howell and Jones follow on 4 and 5.

[David Robertson]

Which begs the question of...

what changed?

We got the luck of the draw

what is going right?

Team played well; as a unit; and to form

what can be done to continue this?

It won't, because it can't, continue

[Chris Rice]

Pure drama at the end in the Ju Wenjun - Kosteniuk game and Ju Wenjun gives her side of the story in a 4 minute interview to chess.com. She wasn't sure that the Kosteniuk claim was going to be turned down and even when it was she couldn't see how to win until Kosteniuk made the fatal error of moving the knight to f4.

[Chris Rice]

The Chinese players diverge on move 17

Shankland was interviewed after the game and it turns out the the USA team had prepared this opening together. In the Wesley So game Shankland says that Yu Yangyi knew what he was doing but his opponent, Li Chao, did not. So in the video you will see Li Chao concentrating hard and continually looking at Yu's board to see what he played. Shankland was none too happy about this happening in such an important match.