2014 Olympiad

Both the US teams won both of their first 2 rounds. With the pairings that was not unexpected, but congratulations are still in order.

The United States men beat Columbia 3-1 in Round 2, with GMs Onischuk and Shankland scoring wins on boards 2 and 4 with White. They are playing the Netherlands in Round 3 (ongoing).

Our women beat Belgium 3-1 in Round 2, with GM Krush, IM Zatonskih, and WGM Foisor getting full points on boards 1, 2, and 4. In a tough draw, they are facing top seed China in Round 3.

Wins for both teams in round 4

Some interesting goings on down among the lower rated teams. Look at this game from Zimbabwe vs. Togo in the Women’s Tournament today. White is Rhoda Masiyaze (1920) of Zimbabwe, Black is Akua Kosife Esse (unrated) of Togo (move times in parenthesis):

  1. e4 (5s) g5 (39s)
  2. d4 (13s) f6 (21s)
    3 Qh5# (19s)

There must be an interesting story behind Black’s play. I hope it comes out.

Shankland wins to salvage a 2-2 draw for the open team vs Canada

Bottom 2 boards win for the women to beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5

I played that once against a friend in a skittles game just to see if he was paying attention (actually g5 and f5 instead of g5 and f6). He was.

USA men are 37th and the women are 10th currently

Both US teams win round 6 3-1. Bottom boards are playing well!

Solid win by the open team over Uzbekistan 3.5-.5 I n round 7. US average team rating was 120 pts higher. Men tied for 6th but with lousy tie breaks are in 14th - last in the score group.

Women draw 2-2 against Armenia. Average team ratings were basically equal. Women tied for 5th and in 7th with tiebreaks.

Foisor and Shankland are both undefeated.

More precisely, Shankland and Foisor are still perfect with six and five wins, respectively. Onischuk and Abrahamayan are also undefeated at 5-0-1 and 3-0-3. respectively.

Onischuk has been brilliant this Olympiad, but sadly he walked into a cheapo today against Rapport.

Shankland is on such a hot streak, he’s probably in violation of Norwegian fire codes right now. Briefly clicked through his game against Polgar today. Great show.

Question for those following the Olympiad more closely than I: Why was GM Krush sidelined for the women’s team (which put up a good fight, but lost to France by the minimum) in round 8?

I have the same question. I hope she’s feeling all right, which would seem to be the only reason to stand down the first board at this late stage of the tournament.

chess-results.com/tnr140381.aspx … =30&wi=821

My guess would be that since she’s 3.5/7, potentially she and the captain/coach may feel she’s out of form and to take a breather to make the last mile sprint in the final 3 rounds…

Judging by the CLO article recapping round eight, I would say Mr. Muradian’s guess is quite likely to be correct. I hope the decision pays off for the team.

Shankland held to a draw today.
Kamsky blunders and resigns.
But Akobian has good winning chances in pawn-up rook ending. Nakamura has slight edge.
And, oh yeah, Kasparov lost the FIDE election by nearly 2-to-1.

Round 9 open 2-2 against Germany. Nakamura and Shankland draw. Akobian wins. Kamsy loses.
Round 9 women 2-2 against Montenegro. Zatonskih and Nemcova win while Krush and Abrahamyan lose.

Round 10 update (doing a lot of chess stuff at work today LOL)…

US men win 2.5-1.5 vs. Argentina. (Onischuk, when last I checked a few hours before this post, was absolutely busted against Mareco. Somehow, he held a draw. Nakamura ground down Peralta. Akobian sacked a queen for a rook and two minors, but couldn’t find a way to make it work. And Shankland…well…wow. Just…wow. What a performance. Meanwhile, Kamsky’s now been benched twice in the non-early rounds. He’s clearly not on form. I just hope it’s not health-related.)

US women win 2.5-1.5 vs. Vietnam. Zatonskih and Abrahamyan held down the fort with wins.

Other things I spotted that I found interesting while sneaking peeks at games in progress…

  • Carlsen got rolled off the board by Saric today. (Yes, THAT Carlsen.) You can only pull rabbits out of the hat against GMs so often; eventually, you’ll get punished for being too reckless with your opening repertoire.

  • Game of the day (for me, anyway)? I thought the Bacrot-Ding game from the France-China match was absolutely fascinating. Ding sacked two exchanges, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on, except that I really didn’t like Bacrot’s position for a while. (I had to fight the urge to break out an engine.)

  • Russia versus Ukraine in the women’s competition was a win for the Ukrainians. That had to be satisfying, particularly after losing their first board player to the Russian team. The Chinese powerhouse, though, was unable to take advantage - as they drew against Spain, of all teams!

Looks like a great last round. The men might have a chance at a medal.

One question: Are Norway’s first teams being put on high tables for spectator purposes? I’ve noticed on the pairings at chess24.com that the Norwegian men are paired as match #3, and the women are paired as match #2.

The open team will certainly need some help to qualify for medals, but it appears to be possible.

Just noticed something that, IMHO, is worthy of comment about this Olympiad.

The Chinese men’s team is in first place with one round to go. They’ve accomplished this WITHOUT the services of GMs Wang Hao, Bu Xiangzhi or Li Chao - all of whom are 2700+ FIDE players as of this writing. These are China’s #2, #3 and #4 players by rating.

I find it remarkable that any country could show up missing that kind of firepower in the modern Olympiad and be within one round of winning the whole thing. I can only tip my hat.