39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[Ola Winfridsson]

Surely there must be an error in the transmission in today's game between van Wely and Shirov? Two moves before the end van Wely leaves a rook and a knight en prise, and in reply Shirov captures neither piece, instead making a pointless bishop move. Then van Wely drops another piece, but Shirov decides it's time to drop a whole a rook himself.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Nepomniachtchi vs Sasikiran was a nice finish.

The Russia 2 team all look about twelve years old.
http://ugra-chess.com/players.php?teami ... =en&tmnt=1

[Matthew Turner]

Carlsen lost and some of the other potential board 1 medal winners don't seem to be having a great time. Perhaps two names not considered Tomi Nyback (FIN) and Sam Collins (IRE) might come into the frame.

[John Saunders]

I read somewhere on the official site that board medals are based on rating performance rather than percentage scores as used to be customary at Olympiads. So it would seem unlikely that anyone rated under 2650+ could get amongst the medals.

[John Saunders]

I've dug out the board prize rule from this page on the FIDE site

7.7.4 Individual Chess Medals for Board Prizes
Players assigned to the same board number in their respective team lists shall be in competition for individual board prizes namely: gold, silver and bronze medals. For the purposes of this award, the players performance rating shall be compared. If the performance rating is equal, the tie shall be broken by
(a) the number of games, and if this is also equal by
(b) the players performance rating after deducting the result against the lowest rated opponent, and if this is also equal by
(c) the players performance rating after deducting the results against the two lowest rated opponents and so on.
Only players who have played a minimum of 8 games shall be eligible for board prizes.

[Mark Howitt]

France will be tough tomorrow. This is where this team can prove they are England players!

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

143 move draw for Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant!
http://ugra-chess.com/liveboard?gameid=1001040372&ln=en

[Keith Arkell]

143 move draw for Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant!
http://ugra-chess.com/liveboard?gameid=1001040372&ln=en

Pah! Game had barely started then

[Mark Howitt]

Overall I think the England players played quite well today .

Surprised there isn't more discussion and commentary on this!

[Alex Holowczak]

Overall I think the England players played quite well today .

Surprised there isn't more discussion and commentary on this!

I don't think today's match caught the imagination; we always fancied our chances of beating Turkey. France however...!

[Ben Purton]

Carlsen lost and some of the other potential board 1 medal winners don't seem to be having a great time. Perhaps two names not considered Tomi Nyback (FIN) and Sam Collins (IRE) might come into the frame.

Id love to see Tomi do it, amazing person.

[Mark Howitt]

With regards to my 'strongest team' comment...

In an ideal world, we definately would want to be playing our four strongest players as much as possible. That's if they're at 95% or more of their abilities anyway, and don't feel 'ill or tired'. Which in my view they shouldn't; this is a time of the year when lots of eyes are upon them, they are getting relatively (for a chessplayer) well paid for their efforts and where they are representing their country. I have the feeling that the members of this team don't want to let each other down either.

And as I said before, it's eleven rounds with two rest days. Even when I'm doing a job and if I feel 'tired' I still aim to do it to the best of my abilities and usually do so- and in no area would I be selected as one of the best in England!

[LozCooper]

With regards to my 'strongest team' comment...

In an ideal world, we definately would want to be playing our four strongest players as much as possible. That's if they're at 95% or more of their abilities anyway, and don't feel 'ill or tired'. Which in my view they shouldn't; this is a time of the year when lots of eyes are upon them, they are getting relatively (for a chessplayer) well paid for their efforts and where they are representing their country. I have the feeling that the members of this team don't want to let each other down either.

And as I said before, it's eleven rounds with two rest days. Even when I'm doing a job and if I feel 'tired' I still aim to do it to the best of my abilities and usually do so- and in no area would I be selected as one of the best in England!

I might have said something similar before I'd spent time captaining the England team. There are all sorts of things to consider, for some of our players the travel from start to finish took 16 hours or more, Andrew Greet actually left Edinburgh in the early hours of Sunday morning just to arrive in Khanty at 8 am, okay, he's a captain not a player but travel and jet lag can cause tiredness. Several of our players have complained of upset stomachs and I myself have suffered with this today. Then there's mental tiredness from playing chess for your country at the highest level, especially when having a long game. For example it's fairly clear that David's game today would take far less out of him than Luke's for example. However much players are getting paid they will perform less well when tired or ill and it's up to me to try and consider all these factors before hopefully choosing the right team. Form is obviously another thing to consider.

These players will always try and perform to the best of their abilities whilst playing for England but at this level a moment's lapse of concentration or indecision can be the difference between winning and losing. Without the benefit of hindsight it's very hard to predict when the team is handed in at 9.30 (and generally picked the night before) who will perform best at 15:00-21:00. I know myself that if I'd had to play chess within 48 hours of all the travelling and jetlag I'd perform at an even lower level than I normally do I'm also very lucky to have 5 very strong Grandmasters to choose from, all with different qualities and all keen to play.

[Roger de Coverly]

In an ideal world, we definately would want to be playing our four strongest players as much as possible.

It was a strategy that Armenia used in 2006 to win in Turin. In those days they had 6 players available not 5 and all the players got a try out in earlier rounds. After that they used the 4 they thought most on form ( not necessarily the 4 highest rated or notionally strongest) for the rest of the tournament.

[benedgell]

benedgell wrote:
Hampshire- based Ugandan Steven Kawuma with a very decent win against a gm today.

Ola Winfridsson wrote:
I think you may have misread the table. According to Chess Results Kawuma lost to Peralta (he won in round two against the Seychelles).

There's 2 Kawumas playing for Uganda- Patrick and Steven. I previously believed both were Hampshire- based, but Michael Yeo has corrected me on this. Steven is Hampshire- based whilst Patrick is based in Uganda. Patrick lost against Peralta, Steven beat Valerga. A very nicely played game by Steven I must say.

Anyone care for a guess as to how we got paired with France for the next round? I haven't got a great deal of knowledge about pairings, but surely with the number of teams on the same points seeds 12 and 10 shouldn't be paired at this stage?

Think this next round will be a decent sign as to how the team's fortunes will pan out. If we can win against a team like France then we really can have designs on a top 10, or maybe even better, finish.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned the womens team's performance today, but a decent draw against higher- seeded Argentina, and an excellent result for Kanwal. Jovanka's looking a very solid top board as well.

Next up is Iceland, and looking at their ratings I wouldn't be surprised if Jovanka was given tomorrow off.

On another note a decent result for everyone's outside pick Vietnam today.