Baku Olympiad

Tim Harding

Colm and Karina sit it out today.
We are slightly ahead on rating in the women's match on every board.

Nothing less than a big win will be satisfactory for the men.

Namibia's game point total is, like ours, boosted by a 4-0 walkover though that was, strangely, in round 3 against Eritrea.

checknraise

Nobody is going to be more disappointed with their performance than the players themselves. There is still time to turn it around tho.

I have to say the colour distribution has been quite bizzare. It can be difficult for everybody to get an even number of whites but Mark H who is the least ambitious player out of the opening has been white in every game bar one. He hasn't come close to getting an advantage in any game.

Joedryan

Not going great so far. On top board Alexander Baburin is clearly winning, and Mark Heidenfeld on bd 3 is clearly better, exchange up.

But on the other boards Stephen Jessel looks like he is busted and Conor O'Donnell is a pawn down for not much as far as I can see.

Joedryan

wait a minute. cant seem to edit my posts on here - I got the colours wrong on bd 4 - Conor is Black so its him a pawn up

that makes things much better, although Stephen Jessel's position is still a cause for concern at least the match point is looking good.

cdeb

Conor's a pawn up, not a pawn down?

(Actually two pawns now - though white has compensation)

Joedryan

cdeb wrote: »

Conor's a pawn up, not a pawn down?

(Actually two pawns now - though white has compensation)

yes my mistake. I think thats the key game now. As long as Conor avoids an accident happening to him there (his king is slightly weak) then that should bring the match point home.

cdeb

Not looking great so far for the women - who are currently level on points with England actually. Diana has just won, but Poornima is in big trouble and the other two boards are still level. We've 130+ points per board on Uruguay apart from board 2, so would be hoping for a win there I think. But a long way to go for Alice and Gearóidín of course.

cdeb

Conor's opponent just gave up the exchange for no particularly apparent reason, so Conor is now clearly winning, an exchange and a pawn up.

cdeb

Conor wins; 2-0 up now. The other two games looking decided as well, so we should win 3-1 there.

Alice lost out in an instructive pawn ending. The computer - which I really don't trust - notes the difference between drawing and losing was 37. ... f5 instead of 37. ... f6. Not sure what the difference is - is it that 37. ... f6 prepares an e5 push, trying to create counterplay through a passed pawn?

cdeb

2-1 to the Women now - another anazing escape from Poornima, who was just lost until her opponent inexplicably sacced both her passed queenside pawns! I can only presume she saw a ghost, but what that ghost was I can't tell.

So we win there if Gearóidín can hold her N+3 v N+4 position.

cdeb

Uruguay are certainly imploding nicely!

Gearóidín's opponent has sacced knight for pawn, hoping her 3v1 queenside majority will overpower the knight. I don't see how it will though - but the question of course is can Gearóidín avoid her last two pawns being swapped off.

cdeb

The dead live!

Stephen has fought to a (presumably drawn) R v R+N ending. Time is low for both, but the king isn't in any particular danger, so just keep away from forks and skewers and we should win 3½-½.

Seems white finally went wrong on move 81, where the nice Ng3 is winning as it's immune from capture and the king has time to come over.

Joedryan

cdeb wrote: »

The dead live!

Stephen has fought to a (presumably drawn) R v R+N ending. Time is low for both, but the king isn't in any particular danger, so just keep away from forks and skewers and we should win 3½-½.

Seems white finally went wrong on move 81, where the nice Ng3 is winning as it's immune from capture and the king has time to come over.

He drew it! That is a complete miracle to be honest and awful technique by his opponent in a completely won position.

RQ_ennis_chess

Looking like the men will get some sort of result today. Baburin outfoxed his opponent to put us 1 up, looks like O'Donnell will lose, Daly probably win so will probably depend on Mark Heidenfelds game whether we win or draw the match

RQ_ennis_chess

I might have been too hasty calling that! Looks like Conor is doing ok now, his opponent didn't play Rxf3, maybe it wasn't as good as it looked on first glance so a team win very much on the cards!

Tim Harding

sodacat11 wrote: »

Being friends with someone isn't a crime but some of the name dropping like "I bumped into my friend Vesko Topalov" must surely be?
*snip*

The European Chess Federation has decided to suspend Jonathan's pal Danailov for 18 months to take effect in a month's time:
http://www.europechess.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Final_Decision_13_2014_14_2014.pdf

macelligott

Colm Daly is doing well - I have a bet on him to gain rating points at the Olympiad (€100) :-) Colm is up 12 rating points after today's match - so my bet is not secure by any means. However, I think having to be at the board within 15 minutes of the start of each game is benefiting Colm.

Joedryan

Tim Harding wrote: »

The European Chess Federation has decided to suspend Jonathan's pal Danailov for 18 months to take effect in a month's time:

ufff, the FIDE ethics committee sticks the boot in.

Joedryan

Thats more like it from the mens team today, they need to keep that momentum going forward in the next match now.

RQ_ennis_chess

Was a very good win in the end and they are on a course for a good finish if they can keep that up. Conor was a bit lucky though. I think 23..Rxf3 was winning for his opponent who played a nice game up til then and will probably be disappointed e.g 23Nxf3 Bxf3 24gxf3 Bf4 25Qe4 Qh3! and seems like black is winning. Maybe he missed the strength of Blacks 25th move. It wouldn't really have mattered to the match result anyway as Mark drew so they would still have won the match.

Ballynafeigh Chess

The men did very well against a good Iraq team, back on track now.

Tim Harding

Thailand tomorrow; another winnable match. All their players are between 2200 and 2270 except the low-rated reserve.
The competition at the top is really heating up with 3 rounds to go. USA lead (14 MP, 23.5 game points) from Ukraine & India (both 14/22) who play each other while the Americans have White on odds against Norway (13/20).

So top board tomorrow looks like it will be Caruana-Carlsen. The other crucial matches are Azerbaijan (13/23) v Russia (13/24) and then several teams on 12 MP with an outside chance of bronze if they could finish strongly.

USA-China is the top women's match with China ahead on game points, so expect Irina Krush v Hou Yifan.

The Irish women play Bolivia whose average rating is 1997.

Joedryan

RQ_ennis_chess wrote: »

Was a very good win in the end and they are on a course for a good finish if they can keep that up. Conor was a bit lucky though. I think 23..Rxf3 was winning for his opponent who played a nice game up til then and will probably be disappointed e.g 23Nxf3 Bxf3 24gxf3 Bf4 25Qe4 Qh3! and seems like black is winning. Maybe he missed the strength of Blacks 25th move. It wouldn't really have mattered to the match result anyway as Mark drew so they would still have won the match.

Yes 23...Rxf3 is killing, and kind of thematic also so a little surprising it was missed.

But even later 26...Rxf2 should be a very big advantage for Black.

Sometimes you play terrible and get a result, sometimes you play extremely well and lose

Tim Harding

Conor and Diana are rested today.

Tim Harding

Horrible opening by Mark today. It looks as if his centre is about to be exploded. After 15 fxe4 Black will be dead; let's hope White doesn't calculate it correctly.

Mark really needs to work on his opening repertoire if he is to play at this level in future.

LATER: 15 fxe4 dxe4 has happened. Now there is no good answer to 16 Bxf6.

A FEW MINUTES LATER: 1-0 in 20 moves. White must be amazed he beat an IM with so little resistance.
Fortunately Colm has a big advantage to balance this out a bit.
In the women's match Alice seems to be winning in a double rook ending.
All to play for in the other games.

macelligott

Tim Harding wrote: »

Horrible opening by Mark today. It looks as if his centre is about to be exploded. After 15 fxe4 Black will be dead; let's hope White doesn't calculate it correctly.

Mark really needs to work on his opening repertoire if he is to play at this level in future.

LATER: 15 fxe4 dxe4 has happened. Now there is no good answer to 16 Bxf6.

A FEW MINUTES LATER: 1-0 in 20 moves. White must be amazed he beat an IM with so little resistance.
Fortunately Colm has a big advantage to balance this out a bit.
In the women's match Alice seems to be winning in a double rook ending.
All to play for in the other games.

Mark Heidenfeld will be very disappointed to loose so quickly against a 2205 player.
It isn't clear to me how Colm Daly can make progress 😕 I hope he at least draws as I have a bet on him to gain rating.
Fortunately Baburin's opponent is short of time.
Jessel must have a slight edge in his game

Tim Harding

macelligott wrote: »

It isn't clear to me how Colm Daly can make progress 😕 I hope he at least draws as I have a bet on him to gain rating.
Fortunately Baburin's opponent is short of time.
Jessel must have a slight edge in his game

Online engine says that the exchange sac 40 Rxh5 soon followed by f4-f5 will win for Colm - and just before I finished typing this, the sac has been played! Alex's opponent probably should have exchanged pawns on e6 before Bf1.

Yes, Stephen seems to be pressing slightly and is not in time trouble for a change (yet).

So there are still good chances Ireland can win the match.

The thing that is annoying many people about the internet coverage is that (unlike Tromso if I recall correctly) you cannot readily switch between games in the same match.

Ballynafeigh Chess

Daly going for the rip down the h file to get momentum from the f&g pawns

macelligott

Tim Harding wrote: »

The thing that is annoying many people about the internet coverage is that (unlike Tromso if I recall correctly) you cannot readily switch between games in the same match.

I can switch between games in same match easily by clicking the forward or back arrows above the board on the live commentary site www1.bakuchessolympiad.com

Ballynafeigh Chess

well spotted and well worked out by Daly it'll take something special by his opponent to stop this now