39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[Maxim Devereaux]

I think we need a couple of new threads for the Olympiad, as the "Discuss England teams" one seems to have gone some way beyond its original remit, and is getting rather cluttered with various conversations.

I'm creating this one for discussion of the actual games, teams, standings etc., and another for more general comments on the Olympiad.

[Maxim Devereaux]

Links to the Olympiad coverage on Chess Results

Open: here
Womens: here

[Alex Holowczak]

One thing I've noticed: Switzerland don't have Korchnoi... but they do have a former British Champion on Board 2, Joseph Gallagher.

[David Brock]

http://www.livestream.com/chessugra?utm ... =chessugra

Above link to opening ceremony

[Andrew Camp]

Have the Round One pairings been announced yet?

[Alex Holowczak]

I think all we know so far is that Russia 1 will be white in Round 1.

[Alex Holowczak]

We do now: Malaysia v England in the Open, and England v Japan in the Women's.

[Maxim Devereaux]

We do now: Malaysia v England in the Open, and England v Japan in the Women's.

Not accelerated then.

Malaysia are 85th seeds; they have a couple of 2400ish IMs, a presumably up-and-coming 2160 on 3 and a 2300 FM on 4 if they field their top team. Should be pretty straightforward, you'd think.

Japan are 95th seeds. An 1800 WCM on 1, unrated on 2, 1500 on 3 and unrated on 4 and 5. Also looks pretty straightforward if these ratings are anything like established and the team is in roughly strength order.

Oh, and England are black on odds in the men, white in the women, just to confirm the order that Alex put.

[Mark Howitt]

Against Malaysia I'd rest one of three of Adams, Short or McShane. I'd ask which of them felt they could play most, if not all of the other rounds. I might actually be even tempted to rest Adams here, as sometimes he's shown signs of tiredness in Olympiads, think he did in Dresden and Italy a bit, as a team of Short, McShane, Howell and Jones should get the win. All of the possible teams should really get the win, but it's obviously vital we win this match. A 'safe' option might be Adams, Short, Howell and Jones, but you'd have to balance that against signs of 'fatigue' later on.

Having said that it's only 11 rounds and really I'd want to play the four highest rated players as much as possible! If I was team captain that's what I'd be persuading people to do- if necessary rest someone if they felt v tired and we'd lost a match or two. We'd probably be playing a lower rated team in that case.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Any English team should win this match by 4-0, so we should drop now whomever we will be most reluctant to drop later. But I don't know who that should be! Not necessarily Adams, who may be more likely than some others to want to rest later on.

[Mark Howitt]

Thing is though there have been plenty of matches where we 'should' win 4-0 but we very rarely do. I think as long as we get 3.5 or 4 in this match that's alright. Anything less is a bit disapointing. Yep, I do have the feeling that Adams might want to rest more out of those three actually, so in theory resting him now should give him more energy to play other matches. Really if he's rested this match, he should play every other match, actually just writing that sentence makes me a bit more convinced that there's quite a strong argument for resting him this match, as after all the team scores are the main thing. Having said that, it's eleven rounds, I think with one rest day. That's hardly super taxing.

Loz should establish now how many games each player wants to play, and see what their energy level is like. Personally, I'd be wanting to play my top four players as much as possible- if everything goes really well this might be the only opportunity to rest anyone!

[Maxim Devereaux]

...it's eleven rounds, I think with one rest day.

Two rest days actually. One after round five, the other before the final round.

Any English team should win this match by 4-0, so we should drop now whomever we will be most reluctant to drop later. But I don't know who that should be! Not necessarily Adams, who may be more likely than some others to want to rest later on.

Maybe 3.5-0.5, though 4-0 is also fairly likely.

I should also point out that Ireland have the "dream" pairing of Russia 1 tomorrow. Barbican's Sam Collins can expect Kramnik or Grischuk with Black.

[Mark Howitt]

Thanks, I was thinking if I should check that! If there're two rest days then there's actually a strong argument for playing the strongest four players every time- the schedule is less taxing than a regular tournament. I don't think that will happen though, although there is quite a strong case for resting one of the top three now and playing the top four in the rest of the matches.

[Alex Holowczak]

The other reason to give the reserve a game is clear; you've spent a lot of money on flights etc. getting them there. You want to give them a few games for the expense to be worth it.

[Mark Howitt]

Yeah, I can almost guarntee that Gawain will play at least one game- I wouldn't be surprised to see him play at least two or three. Maybe that's good from a 'long term' perspective, as it'll provide good experience for him. Still, I was playing in the Yorkshire league around the same time he was, and I'd still take the hard headed view that we should play the best four players as much as possible. I think if the top four are in form it's a powerful team. Gawain's not massively behind Howell in terms of talent, but he's a bit more gung-ho and has a bit less experience against top players in my view.