FIDE Online Olympiad 22 July to 30 August 2020

[NickFaulks]

I suspect with the teams we have here, though, Russia are favourites

Massive.

[Leonard Barden]

I advise careful study of the final two moves of both armageddon games. White's 38th in the Germany v Hungary game, if Chessbomb has it right, is especially notable.

Whether by accident or design it was very likely an excellent choice since one move later Black overstepped while White had all of three seconds left. If Black had attempted a long arm reach capture (Qc1xf4) instead of a near to hand one square king move, flagfall would probably have occurred a move earlier.
https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2020-fi ... ner_Dennis

[NickFaulks]

It's a great spectator sport, but is it chess?

[JustinHorton]

Has there been any discussion of the terms and conditions to which the competitors had to sign up in order to play?

[David Sedgwick]

Whether by accident or design it was very likely an excellent choice since one move later Black overstepped while White had all of three seconds left.

According to the commentators, White had 0.3 seconds left, not 3 seconds.

[Richard Bates]

I advise careful study of the final two moves of both armageddon games. White's 38th in the Germany v Hungary game, if Chessbomb has it right, is especially notable.

I recall years ago, around the time of the Intel rapid/blitz events I think, Chess magazine doing a whole article on short moves/long moves in time trouble, forcing your opponent into long moves, and brilliant “combinations” that involved delaying checkmate to the last possible moment when in lost positions etc.

[LawrenceCooper]

Whether by accident or design it was very likely an excellent choice since one move later Black overstepped while White had all of three seconds left.

According to the commentators, White had 0.3 seconds left, not 3 seconds.

0.00.3 from memory.

[LawrenceCooper]

India win the first match 3.5-2.5 albeit I believe there's an appeal from Armenia which has delayed the start of the second match. It relates to the board 5 disconnecting when a pawn down in an ending.

Board Pairings
Round 1 on 2020/08/28 at 1100 UTC
Bo. 1 India Rtg - 2 Armenia Rtg 3½:2½
1.1 GM Anand, Viswanathan 2751 - GM Aronian, Levon 2778 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2636 - GM Sargissian, Gabriel 2693 1 - 0
1.3 GM Koneru, Humpy 2483 - GM Danielian, Elina 2358 0 - 1
1.4 GM Harika, Dronavalli 2450 - IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2306 1 - 0
1.5 GM Nihal, Sarin 2418 - GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2278 1 - 0
1.6 WIM Vantika, Agrawal 1729 - WGM Sargsyan, Anna M.2304 0 - 1

In the match itself the queen blunder on board 2 when a perpetual looked likely also had a bearing on the match result.

[LawrenceCooper]

India win the first match 3.5-2.5 albeit I believe there's an appeal from Armenia which has delayed the start of the second match. It relates to the board 5 disconnecting when a pawn down in an ending.

Board Pairings
Round 1 on 2020/08/28 at 1100 UTC
Bo. 1 India Rtg - 2 Armenia Rtg 3½:2½
1.1 GM Anand, Viswanathan 2751 - GM Aronian, Levon 2778 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2636 - GM Sargissian, Gabriel 2693 1 - 0
1.3 GM Koneru, Humpy 2483 - GM Danielian, Elina 2358 0 - 1
1.4 GM Harika, Dronavalli 2450 - IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2306 1 - 0
1.5 GM Nihal, Sarin 2418 - GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2278 1 - 0
1.6 WIM Vantika, Agrawal 1729 - WGM Sargsyan, Anna M.2304 0 - 1

In the match itself the queen blunder on board 2 when a perpetual looked likely also had a bearing on the match result.

The appeal was rejected and Armenia have withdrawn in protest.

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 2 on 2020/08/28 at 1200 UTC

Bo. 2 Armenia Rtg - 1 India Rtg 0 : 6
1.1 GM Aronian, Levon 2778 - GM Anand, Viswanathan 2751 - - +
1.2 GM Sargissian, Gabriel 2693 - GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2636 - - +
1.3 GM Danielian, Elina 2358 - GM Koneru, Humpy 2483 - - +
1.4 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2306 - GM Harika, Dronavalli 2450 - - +
1.5 GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2278 - GM Praggnanandhaa, R 1781 - - +
1.6 WGM Sargsyan, Anna M. 2304 - WIM Vantika, Agrawal 1729 - - +

[Mick Norris]

Whatever the merits of the protest, that's a pity

[LawrenceCooper]

Russia through 5-1, 3-3 against Hungary.

[JustinHorton]

Nihal Sarin's had some adventures recently

[Richard Bates]

Whatever the merits of the protest, that's a pity

They would have to be some pretty strong merits, probably expanding beyond the specifics of the incident (bias in the appeals panel or something). You can’t have teams just withdrawing from events of this type whenever they feel hard done by. What’s the point of appeals processes/committees if competitors don’t agree to abide by their decisions? In fact I’m surprised such a stipulation wasn’t a condition of entry.

Wouldn’t be surprised if FIDE take further measures as a result.

[LawrenceCooper]

USA comfortably through aganst Ukraine 4.5-1.5 & 4-2.