Oh, the Dutch!

With the move to match points, dropping the odd game at the Chess Olympiad does not hurt as much as it used to. To really blow your chances, the whole team has to misfire against weaker opponents. An obvious example of this is the team from The Netherlands who have had a very shaky start to the tournament.
In the first round the 9th seeds squeaked out a 2.5-1.5 win over Malaysia, which in itself was a surprise. The in the second round they lost 2.5-1.5 to Venezuela, who were seeded 58th. They are now on 2 match points, and 4 game points. Of course they aren't helped by the fact that their top board Anish Giri has been delayed by passport problems, and is yet to make an appearance.
At the other end of the field Fiji caused a bit of a shock, beating Kenya 3-1. While not one of the top African teams, Kenya are still a challenge, an so the win for Fiji was quite an achievement. PNG and Palau suffered 4-0 losses again, although this means they are finding their level as quickly as possible.
Australia drew 2-2 with Norway in a competitive match. David Smerdon played and Evans Gambit on board 1, sacrificed another pawn, and then hacked his opponent. Solomon and Ly drew, while Max Illingworth went down in the final game of the match. The Australian womens team had a tough pairing against India, with Biljana Dekic scoring the only half point.