India defeated the USA 2.5-1.5 to *almost* secure 1st place in the 2024 Chess Olympiad. The result caused a degree of premature celebration from Indian fans online, as there is a possibility that a freak set of results (incredibly unlikely though they are) could result in a change at the top. The only team that can now catch them is China, who beat Uzbekistan 2.5-1.5 in Round 10. In third place is the real surprise of the tournament, Slovenia, who are on 16 match points after a win over The Netherlands. They do play India today, but if the games are all drawn after 30 moves (which secures a guaranteed 1st place for India) then they may hang on for a bronze.
Australia had another poor result, losing to the Faeroe Islands 1.5-2.5. After a good start to the tournament (8 points after 6 rounds), they have struggled in the 2nd half, only scoring 3/8, against much lower seeded teams. They do however remain a point ahead of New Zealand, who lost 0.5-3.5 to Hungary C (their Under 25 development team). However the last round pairing is a little kinder to NZ than to Australia, so the destination of the imaginary Oceania Cup is still to be determined.
PNG scored their 4th win of the tournament, beating Eritrea 2.5-1.5. There were wins on the top 2 boards, but in the ultimate safety play, Rupert Jones took a draw on board 3, despite having a forced mate in the final position. Guam lost to Barbados 1-3, to remain on 7 points, Fiji stay on 6 after losing to Mauritania 1-3, Palau lost to the Cayman Islands 1-3, and are on 4 points, where they have been joined by Vanuatu who drew 2-2 with Comoros Islands.
The final round is underway as I type this, although PNG is already 1 game down due to the PNG board 4 being 'unwell'. The closing ceremony is quite late this evening (Hungary time), although early risers in Australia may be able to catch the end of it on the Internet.
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