Saturday 4 September 2021

Australia fall short

 Going into the final day of the 2021 Online Olympiad, Australia had high hopes of qualifying for the top section, but a couple of unfortunate results put paid to this. Having won in round 7, the slipped up against Kyrgyzstan in round 8, losing 3.5-2.5. This meant they needed to be Shenzen (a second China team, representing the event sponsors), but lost 5-1, to finish in 4th pace for the 2nd year in a row.  Top board Temur Kuybokarov had the best score with 5.5/8, but the rest of the team hovered around the 50% mark for most of the tournament. 

FM Albert Winkelman scored exactly 50% (3.5/7) including winning a nice game in Round 8 against his opponent from Kyrgyzstan


Winkelman,Albert (2257) - Degenbaev,Aziz (1795) [A00]
2021 FIDE Online Olympiad Chess.com (8.3), 04.09.2021


5 comments:

Mark said...

Was Albert short on time or something? I don't understand why anyone would play on after 42. Rxe4.

Anonymous said...

Hoping for a disconnection, I guess.

Shaun Press said...

@Mark It simplifies the position into a winning King and Pawn ending. As Black only has a king left it also guarantees at least a draw if something like a disconnection happens, of White just runs out of time.

Mark said...

@Shaun Yeah that's what I meant - the position for Black is completely hopeless. Playing on as Black just seems a fantastic waste of everyone's time, particularly at this level.

Shaun Press said...

@Mark sorry, I realised I misread your initial comment. Yes playing for a disconnection sometimes happens here, and of course in online chess, players are often slow to resign, no matter how hopeless the position