2012 Olympiad results and games

[Andrew Martin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SLgtreb-us

Short-Fier from Rd 2

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Cuba next in round three.

That will be tough. They have two 2700+ GMs, both of whom are on 2/2 so far. On balance, would a draw be a good result, or will either of the teams feel they are favourites in this match? I suppose it will depend largely on how preparation and the openings go, and what positions end up on the boards.

PS. I see Ivanchuk lost on board one for Ukraine in R2.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Answers on a postcard:

1) How many Latin/Spanish speaking countries will England play?

2) How many matches in the women's olympiad will finish 4-0? There have been about 300 already*

* Well, you know what I mean.

[Andrew Bak]

I think from now on the Women's tournament will be a bit more steady. In the middle boards there were already quite a lot of close games - the Swiss system will soon have everybody playing similarly-strengthed opponents.

It seems like China are going to be extremely tough to beat, they've been playing some really good chess and still have Hou Yifan to come in.

[Mick Norris]

I am not sure how reliable the live games part of the official website is (I see Gawain, rather than Rupert, Jones lost on board 3 for Papua New Guinea) but it appears that Felix Ynojosa beat Jan Smeets

Luckily today Wales only selected one Jones, else Gawain would have needed to be on four boards at once, instead of just three. There were two Israel teams today.

There was an Israeli top board for the team playing Cuba (ISCA) so the website seems to have interpreted the team as Israel, eve though the other boards were non-Israeli

It seems to have confused Yorkshire chess too, judging from their Report

[Roger de Coverly]

There was an Israeli top board for the team playing Cuba (ISCA) so the website seems to have interpreted the team as Israel, eve though the other boards were non-Israeli

The live games website has concentrated on the fancy (player photos with each game) at the expense of the basics, namely that there are at least four Jones at the Olympiad and it's important for game attribution to know which one played where. I don't know whether the multiple Jones problem will even be fixed as it may be a software issue.

(edit) The South Africa top board is also appearing for Australia (/edit).

[Andrew Bak]

I am not sure how reliable the live games part of the official website is (I see Gawain, rather than Rupert, Jones lost on board 3 for Papua New Guinea) but it appears that Felix Ynojosa beat Jan Smeets

Luckily today Wales only selected one Jones, else Gawain would have needed to be on four boards at once, instead of just three. There were two Israel teams today.

There was an Israeli top board for the team playing Cuba (ISCA) so the website seems to have interpreted the team as Israel, eve though the other boards were non-Israeli

It seems to have confused Yorkshire chess too, judging from their Report

I spotted the many Jones' but this one slipped the net - thanks!

[Jonathan Rogers]

Goodness, 3.Bb5+ against the Sicilian on both of the top boards in England v Cuba! Gawain must be feeling a bit frustrated since this is his third Black and already his second Bb5+.

The decision to drop Adams in round one, combined with a subsequent double white on board one in rounds two and three, has meant that by the end of today, Adams, Short and Pert will have played 6/6 Whites between them, and Howell and Jones 6/6 Blacks. Of course it would look a bit better tomorrow if they keep the same team.

[Jonathan Rogers]

So far so good, I guess. Or at least, I like Short's position more than I dislike Gawain's.

[Andrew Bak]

Just had a very quick look and Gawain has sacrificed his queen (32.fxe5). It looked like he's under pressure all game. I'm guessing Nigel will try to trade pieces and head for some ending. I quite like Mickey's position as well.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Howell is not doing too badly either. Could be as much as 3.5-0.5 if all goes well.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I think that Howell's advantage is rather nominal - he cannot easily make progress, given the exposed nature of his king and that major pieces will stay on the board for some time. But we should win, I think; Adams certainly and we should make at least 1/2 on the others. If so, it will be another very good performance. Basically they all seem to be in good/very good shape so far and Nick may have to wait until Short's FIDE meetings for his next games.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Elsewhere ....

a premature pairing between Ukraine and Israel (the real Israel!) on board six; and another individual loss for Ukraine who currently trail. The Dutch have lost their second match without winning a game, although in their current state, Georgia was always likely to be tough opposition. On board 13 we see Kramnik v Shirov, but Russia have won the match regardless whether Kramnik can convert. A blunder from Aagaard, playing for Denmark v Scotland (!!) has enabled the Scots to take a surprise 2-0 lead though the match is not won yet.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Gaswain has drawn, so the question now seems to be our margin of victory. As I said above, a very good team performance. I wonder whether Gawain was more or less OK after he sacrificed/was forced to lose his queen?

[Andrew Martin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=119kZu725RU


Harikrishna v Beliavsky from Rd 3