Monday 11 August 2014

2014 Olympiad Day 8 - Another change at the top

The leader board at the 2014 Chess Olympiad changed once again, with China moving into first place after a win over Azerbaijan 3-1. They are now on 14 points (+6=2) a point ahead of France, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Romania. Although there are a number of big guns lurking further back, there are only 3 rounds left to catch up in.
The Austrlian team had there chances against the higher rated Uzbekistan, but ended up going down 3-1. The team played their top 4 players, deciding to rest FM Anton Smirnov on the grounds that players often lose the first game after they achieve a title!
And speaking of change, today is election day for FIDE. Kasparov v Ilyumzhinov is the big battle to see who will run world chess for the next 4 years. I have stayed away from this one in terms of politics (as it has been an awful campaign on both sides), and so will soon be off to the General Assembly to watch the action and witness the claim and counter claim from both sides. Would be enjoyable if it wasn't so venal.

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