39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Well held Luke.

It does mean, though, that we are still awaiting an explanation of the dying words of George V. Perhaps Mr. Bogner has the answer?

When I saw that German player's name, that was the joke that I thought of as well. I'm glad someone else posted the joke before I did! I should say, that despite my surname being German (from one of my grandfathers) I know practically no German and didn't realise the name wasn't pronounced like the seaside resort.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Kirill looks like a likely norm candidate there. Has he met the right mix of opponents?

If you click on the list of board prizes, there are some other IMs there as well that might be going for GM norms. If anyone can be bothered, they could try and work that out. Working out who might be on course for an IM norm might be a bit harder...

[Ian Thompson]

Kirill looks like a likely norm candidate there. Has he met the right mix of opponents?

The norm requirements are different at Olympiads from most other events (http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article, Section 1.24). He can get a 13 round norm by putting in a 2600 performance over 9 or more games, regardless of the titles of his opponents. If he does get the required titled opponents then he can get a 20 round norm.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Kirill looks like a likely norm candidate there. Has he met the right mix of opponents?

The norm requirements are different at Olympiads from most other events (http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article, Section 1.24). He can get a 13 round norm by putting in a 2600 performance over 9 or more games, regardless of the titles of his opponents. If he does get the required titled opponents then he can get a 20 round norm.

Goodness. I never realised there were so many regulations and permutations surrounding FIDE titles. I've just (tried) reading that handbook page and it looks fearsomely complicated. I naively thought it was just a matter of getting three norms and a rating and that was it... (the difficulty seems to be in working out the norm requirements).

[Roger de Coverly]

I naively thought it was just a matter of getting three norms and a rating and that was it... (

Basically yes - but there are a number of special rules for team competitions. Mostly these seem to be designed as an incentive for players to participate.

What I don't like is awarding titles and ratings as Olympiad prizes. At one time (possibly still) it was possible to get a 2200 rating and a CM title by scoring something like 5.5/7. This was independent of whether the opposition (in ECF terms) was 125 or 195.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So now we have one sole leader Ukraine on 14/16

and no less than six teams snapping at their heels on 13/16: Russia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and France (who beat Russia 2 today).

The USA and China drew and are among a very big group on 12/16 (though not as large as our group on 11/16!).

Nice game fragment (in your original post) to demonstrate the need to concentrate all the way to the end of a game!

I quoted your figures above for the number of teams in each score group, but the number of teams on 12/16 is rather small actually, not as big as I thought from reading what you said (how can four teams be a "very big group"?).

It is one team on 14/16, six teams on 13/16, 4 teams on 12/16 and 17 teams on 11/16 and 13 teams on 10/16.

There are three rounds to go, so the best England can do is 17/22. I reckon the winning score will be 18 or 19 match points and that 16/22 might be enough for a top 10 finish. Looking at the ratings on paper, I'd say a draw against Russia 3 tomorrow would be a very creditable result, though it could go either way.

The second rest day is Saturday, with the final round at 11am (local time) on Sunday (the previous rounds have been at 3pm). I wonder how that will affect things!

Realistically, the medals will probably go to three from the current top eleven:

Ukraine (already played HUN, GEO, RUS and playing AZE in R9)
Russia (already played USA, HUN, UKR and playing ARM in R9)
Hungary (already played CHN, RUS, UKR, AZE and playing ISR in R9)
Azerbaijan (already played ARM, HUN and playing UKR in R9)
Armenia (already played GEO, AZE and playing RUS in R9)
Georgia (already played ARM, UKR and playing FRA in R9)
France (already played ISR and playing GEO in R9)
Israel (already played FRA and playing HUN in R9)
Cuba (played none of the leaders and playing CHN in R9)
China (played HUN, USA, and playing CUB in R9)
USA (played RUS and CHN, not playing a leader in R9)

It is noticeable that Ukraine, Russia and Hungary have all played each other already, but it is Georgia sitting in the bronze medal position at the moment. It's all a bit close to call, but I'd tip Ukraine, Russia and Hungary to take the medals. I think Hungary have a good chance of winning all their remaining matches and snatching the gold medals, but it depends on what Russia and Ukraine can do. Does anyone think any of the other teams can came through to win it, like China (number 3 seeds)?

[LozCooper]

Round 9 board pairings:

Bo. 14 Russia 3 (RUS3) Rtg - 12 England (ENG) Rtg 0 : 0
11.1 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2726 - GM Adams Michael 2728
11.2 GM Motylev Alexandr 2694 - GM McShane Luke J 2657
11.3 GM Rublevsky Sergei 2683 - GM Howell David W L 2616
11.4 GM Kabanov Nikolai 2500 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2576

Bo. 24 Vietnam (VIE) Rtg - 39 England (ENG) Rtg 0 : 0
16.1 WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram 2285 - IM Houska Jovanka 2426
16.2 WIM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 2304 - WIM Lauterbach Ingrid 2169
16.3 WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung 2258 - WFM Grigoryan Meri 2099
16.4 WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An 2306 - Bhatia Kanwal K 2072

[David Brock]

I take it Nigel did not play today so to give Gawain further chance to score more points!!!

Or is there another reason as he also sat out yesterday because of the votes etc.

[Alex Holowczak]

I take it Nigel did not play today so to give Gawain further chance to score more points!!!

Or is there another reason as he also sat out yesterday because of the votes etc.

As England's FIDE Delegate, he'll be attending General Assembly. That started yesterday with the elections, but is scheduled to continue until October 2. I'm not sure how much of that Short plans to attend, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's out of action until then.

[benedgell]

Topalov- Nakamura (or the other way round, not sure about the colours) should be a good game to watch today.

[Mark Howitt]

I think we should know a full reason why Short isn't playing. I could partly understand it yesterday, but today his absence could cost us the match.

[David Brock]

Jones game looks like it is heading to a draw unless someone fancies their endgame technique

[Alex Holowczak]

I think we should know a full reason why Short isn't playing. I could partly understand it yesterday, but today his absence could cost us the match.

I think we are safe to assume he is at General Assembly acting as our FIDE Delegate. This isn't really news; it was made clear this would be a clash at his time of election.

Of course, he might be in bed with a virus... But General Assembly seems like a logical place for him to be.

[benedgell]

I know they're the number 1 seeds, but the Russian Women's team has been on fire in this event. 3 individual losses from 32 games. 5/7 for Kosintseva T, 6.5/8 for Kosintseva N, 6/8 for Kosteniuk, 4/5 for Gallimova, and 3.5/4 for Gunina.

[Mark Howitt]

I don't think it's that 'logical'. If he's been selected as part of the England playing team then he should be available to play. Surely there must be some way for someone to vote on his behalf? Imagine if a member of the England football team had to go to a 'FIFA meeting' instead of playing in a crucial World Cup match!