Tuesday 5 August 2014

2014 Olympiad Day 3 - Tough going

Round 3 of the 2014 Chess Olympiad saw some tough matches, and some surprising results. The win by France over Armenia was probably the biggest news, coming as it did on the top board. Movsesian lost to Fressinet and with the rest of the games drawn it was 2.5-1.5 to the French. The Dutch team also had a good result, beating the US team 2.5-1.5 with 3 decisive games. After the match Anish Giri commented that his draw by repetition was only correct if his team won the match.
Further down the Australian team slipped in a banana peel in the shape of El Salvador. Wins to Smerdon and Smirnov were cancelled out by losses to Illingworth and Ikeda, leaving the match 2-2. The Australian Women's team suffered a similar fate, drawing 2-2 with Monaco. Both results keep Australia further down the table than they would like, and it may be a couple of rounds before they reach the heavy-hitters again.
In good news for the host country, World Champion Magnus Carlsen scored his first win for the event, leading the team to a 3-1 win over Montenegro.


Carlsen Magnus (2877) - Djukic Nikola (2521) [B01]
WCO2014 Tromso (3.29), 04.08.2014



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