39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[Matthew Turner]

I'm a bit worried, I think the match has turned against us in the last 20 minutes

[James Coleman]

I still quite like Short's position but Howell looks to have some problems, his opponent is very active. I think we've got slightly the worse of it overall right now but anything possible.

[benedgell]

Yasser Seirawan is a big fan of Short's position now. Of the other boards Vachier-Lagrave v Adams is going to be a draw sooner or later, just the same as virtually every game involving the Marshall and 2 decent gms. I quite like Tkachiev's position, although thats not to say theres much in it, and Feller is better against Howell.

[Rob Thompson]

Tkachiev seems to me to have a position where he simply has very little to do. I don't think he will be able to prevent either c5 or e5 at an opportune moment either

[Simon Ansell]

Nice game by Nigel. Luke's position looks fine to me, those Slav structures where Black goes e5 are usually pretty equal and here Black has queenside space and the White kingside is slightly weak. David is in trouble though, so I predict 2-2.

[benedgell]

The women could be in trouble. Kanwal and Ingrid both losing, and I'm not a fan of Jovanka's position.

[John Saunders]

Luke appears to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat...

(later)

... well, that comment was made without benefit of Stockfish [analysis engine], but I've switched it on and it says "draw" at move 45. In fact, Fressinet would have done better not to have recaptured on g3 when he might have won with 40, apparently.

[Nick Thomas]

According to Marin, Black is better in the Short game provided he continues 11....Kg6 but probably you can only make such a move if you have looked at this line at home.

One would expect a 2700 GM to know his theory. And (assuming Kg6 is theory) if you've looked at it once, it's probably not a move you're likely to forget.

Kg6 is a move which has been known and considered best for some time. However, it is a sideline of a sideline of a very rare line at that level and I would therefore doubt if Black knew it (although he found it). Even if he did know it I am fairly certain that he wouldn't ever have spent any time considering the resulting position which commentators generally consider equal(ish) though unbalanced. Certainly best for the side who has spent a couple of hours on it during prep.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Luke drew. I guess 51.Kd4 didn't really get played...

[Michael Jones]

So maybe Vietnam aren't looking quite such a hot tip after all. Hungary, anyone?

Bizarrely the women's team have even had to contend with having the sun in their eyes although this is one occasion where there isn't much the arbiters can do, apart from stand in the way to block it out

I had that in a junior game once, and the arbiter agreed to let us move to the other side of the hall - I imagine that would be slightly trickier in an Olympiad, though.

[benedgell]

Next up, Norway for the men, UAE for the women.

I'd be very confident that McShane + Howell/ Jones will get results on the bottom 2 boards, so as long as we get at least 0.5/2 on the top 2 I think the mens' team will win.

UAE's squad goes 1906, 1890, 1829, 1821, 1752 reserve, with none of them playing above their ratings thus far. If we don't get 4-0 there it'll be a disappointment.

[Matthew Turner]

Fantastic game from Short today and a decent result for the men. Norway will be another challenge and I wonder what team England will go for. Maybe it will have to be the top four again?
The women were pretty disappointing and Ingrid looks horribly out of form to me. Hopefully they will come back stronger after the rest day.

[Michael Jones]

Again, which way round are the colours? Adams should manage to draw with white against Carlsen, but might well lose with black. Then again, if Jobava beat him he clearly isn't on top form, so maybe we might even get a win out of that one. Short should probably at least draw with Hammer with either colour, and might even fancy his chances of a win. Norway are much weaker on 3 and 4 so I'd agree we should at least get 1.5 out of those with any combination of McShane/Howell/Jones, if not 2.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I'm starting to get concerned about Sam Collins' GM norm chances. Sam has 3.5/4, with a "dropped" half to Grischuk. But he has not played any other GMs - indeed Ireland have won their last two matches by 4-0 and they are STILL paired in round six against another team with no GMs. We can only hope for another Irish win (this time against comparable opposition) for the sake of Sam's norm chances in round seven.

We have never beaten Norway, in recent years, despite having played them three times - not even when they missed Carlsen last year. Some posters here are getting rather carried away. A win by 2.5-1.5 would be an excellent, though of course nonetheless achievable, result.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think I've found an explanation for the pairings. They seem to be being reseeded on each scoregroup not using gamepoints, but using "Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break without lowest result (Khanty-Mansiysk)". I have absolutely no idea what that is.