With just 26 teams and a 9 round tournament it looks like some late round pairings may look weird.
The sponsored US team is paired with Armenia in the fourth round today. Those are the only 3-0 teams. Their starting ranks were 1 and 2.
Shabalov won on board 1 with the other 3 drawn - Benjamin, Ehlvest and Yermolinsky. The US flagged team wins the match over 2 seed Armenia 2.5-1.5. The Americans are the only 4-0 at this point. A team from Italy is at 3.5 and will be the pairing for the Americans tomorrow. The 3 point teams are from Armenia, England 1, Germany and Canada. the Americans have already played 3 of those 4.
With 9 rounds and only 26 teams the pairings are likely to start looking weird pretty soon.
OMG…
My senior days are staring me in the face.
I was at a restaraunt and the store had a sign about military veterens getting a 15% discount.
She didn’t ask for my vet card, but when I went to show her my drivers licence, because I was using my credit card, she said, "Oh, you get the 50% senior discount.
Awesome, surviving five decades on planet Earth is good for a cheaper meal. 
The Americans beat a team from Italy 2.5-1.5 today in Round 5. Benjamin won on board 2 while Shabalov, Novikov and Ehlvest all drew. Yermolinsky sat out this round.
AT 5-0 after the Americans are in sole first place. Armenia and England 1 are at 4 and both lost to the American team already. The pairings are starting to get a bit weird given 9 rounds and 26 teams. Round 6 will have the American team at 5-0 paired against a team from Iceland with 3.5. The other 3.5 teams are the Italian team the Americans just beat and an Austrian team.
other Round 6 pairings
Armenia - England 1
Austria - Italy
Israel -Russian women
In round 6 the American team lost 1 point with a 2-2 score against Iceland team 1.
Any word on the next round pairings yet? The last few rounds pairings have ample opportunity for changes in the standings, as demonstrated today.
Round 7 pairings have Americans with 11 paired with Isreal at 8.
England 1 drew Armenia in round 6. Both are at 9. So is Italy. The only in group pairing is England 1- Italy. The other top teams have already played each other and are paired down to the 8 score group.
The Americans have already played and beaten the three in the 9 point group.
What is “11”? Are they pairing on match wins or total points? If it’s the latter, how could a 5-0-1 team have only 11?
Win =2
Draw=1
5×2+1=11
Added
Oops
That’s tiebreak 1. My excuse is tax season just got over.
The American team just beat the team from Israel 2.5-1.5. The decisive game was on board 4 with a win by Yermolinsky.
Iceland 1 beat Armenia dropping Armenia out of the 2nd score group. Italy beat England - same deal.
After 7
US team 6.5
Italy 5.5 - already played with US the winner
Iceland 1 5 already played with a drawn match
Germany 5
Armenia 4.5 already played and US won
England 1 4.5 already played and US won
Austria 4.5
Israel 4 already played and US won
Athens 4
So it looks like the round 8 pairing will be against Germany with a US team win winning the tournament with a roun to go. Then the round 9 pairing may drop down several score groups.
oops - I missed that the American team played and beat the German team in round 2. So the paring drops down 2 full points to Austria. A win would clench the title for the Americans with another round left.
In round 8 the American team was paired down several score groups and faced a team from Austria. With a sweep of the top three boards by GMs Shabalov, Benjamin and Novikov plus a draw on board 4 by Yermolinsky the American team won the match 3.5-.5.
After 8 rounds the American team has all but clinched the title. With 7.5 points and Italy in second with 6.5 - and with the American team having already beaten the Italian team n an earlier round, it seems unlikely that the Americans can be caught.
Since there are only 26 teams and 9 rounds, some of those strange pairings are really appearing now. the American team at 7.5 is paired way down against the 4.5 point team from Argentina which is raked 8 over 8 rounds. The American team has already played the teams ranked 2-7 after 8 rounds and won all those matches except for the draw with Iceland 1.
Italy with 6.5 is paired against Armenia with 5.5
Iceland 1 on board three with 6 is paired against Israel with 5.
England with 5.5 points is paired with Germany with 5 points.
The American team wins with a win or a draw. About the only way Italy can win is for the American team to lose the round 9 match and for the Italians to sweep 4-0.
The US team would have to lose the round 9 match and the Italians would have to outscore the US team in games by more than 2.
I really don’t have a problem with these “weird” or “strange” pairings. It amounts to a near-round-robin. You could say that every team will get paired against all the teams there is any point in getting paired against, and a few others as well.
Bill Smythe
I don’t have any “problem” with it either. It just looks odd in a Swiss to have pairings that drop across multiple score groups. It does make me wonder if this event is viable. It’s an open tournament that doesn’t seem to be drawing much interest.
Has ‘viability’ ever been a major consideration at FIDE? It sure hasn’t appeared that way to me, as long as some federation is wiling to run the event and pay FIDE for the privilege, FIDE’s willing to sanction it.
US team wins the match and the tournament. They finish with 8.5 while Italy ends up with 7
Why was there no 65+ team from the USA?
No team ever won a tournament by not entering. - Armchair Warrior
Well you can organize one - it is an open tournament. As many teams from any country can enter as wish.