2010 Olympiad Days 7&8

Having fallen a full day behind in my blogging, I thought I'd catch up with 2 reports in 1.

Yesterday PNG played Trinidad and Tobago, which was a really painful pairing for us. They had been a little unlucky with the draw (having faced South Africa the day before) and were down floated to us. On average they were about 75 or so points rated above us, which meant that they could conceivably win every game. They didn't quite do so, only because Rupert Jones drew on board 4.

In my game I tried the closed Sicilian, but my opponent banged out the moves so quickly I was sure he knew more theory than me. This was confirmed after the game when he said my 17th(!) move was wrong, and that his coach(!) made sure he had memorised this line a few hours before the game.

Today we are playing Guernsey, and my tournament just isn't getting any better. In a King's Bishop Gambit I chose just about every second best move in the position, and went down in flames. Joselito Marcos has drawn on board 1, with the other 2 games still in progress. However the tip is that we should win on board 4, so board 3 might decide the match. A 2-2 might not be so bad as we then stay in the shallow end of the pool.

Despite my horrible results, and insipid play, I'm actually feeling a lot better at this Olympiad than the last couple. I attribute this to a better team atmosphere amongst the players, where the focus is chess, and enjoying the tournament, rather than on other, unrelated issues.

There final 3 rounds will be played over the next 4 days with the day after round 10 (Saturday), being a rest day. The Irish team, who are on the same hotel floor as us, are organising an Irish Party for the Friday night. And those who went to the one in Dresden know how good this is.