2022 Chess Olympiad - Day 2

 The 2nd day of the Chess Olympiad seemed more hectic than day 1. This was due to the fact that it was the first weekend round, and the venue was swarming with spectators. Outside the entrance to the main playing hall, there were hundreds of autograph hunters, waiting for players to emerge after their games had finished. Inside the hall the number of spectators was also larger, although this didn't cause any significant issues for the players.

Day 2 saw a couple of big guns emerge. Magnus Carlsen played his first game, winning against Georg Meier from Uruguay. After his draw yesterday Aronian was rested for Caruana, but is a semi upset, Paraguay scored 1.5 against the top seeded US team. The biggest upset of the round was Zambia beating Denmark 2.5-1.5.

Australia continued its winning ways in both the Open and Women's events. The Open team scored 3.5 against Morocco, and the Women's team scored 3 against New Zealand. As a result Australia played Poland in the Open and Cuba in the Women's. 

PNG went down 0-4 to Qatar, but Nauru scored a credible 1.5 against the higher rated Honduras. With 2 rounds out of the way, the 'real' tournament is starting for a lot of the lower ranked teams, although PNG still have a tough opponent in the shape of Mozambique. 

Zrikem Nassim - Zhao Zong-Yuan [D05]
WCO (2), 2022.07.30

2022 Chess Olympiad - Round 1

 Round 1 of the 2022 Chess Olympiad has been run and done, with no upset results in either tournaments. The vast majority of matches ended 4-0 to the rating favourites, although both the USA and Norway dropped half a point. No match finished closer than 3-1, with Sri Lanka drawing 2 games against Hungary being the closest thing to an upset result.

PNG went down 4-0 to Zambia, although Stuart Fancy and Rupert Jones held out for quite a while. Australia scored 4-0 wins in both the Open and Women's, as did New Zealand. The other Oceania countries suffered similar fates to PNG, but hopefully round 2 will see some improved results. 

Pairings for round 2 are available at http://chess-results.com/tnr653631.aspx?lan=1 (with the link to the Women's event at the top)

2022 Chess Olympiad has started

 As I write this, the 2022 Chess Olympiad is just underway. While the Olympiad has had a history of late round 1 starts, the first moves for this one were played at 3:06 local time, a mere 6 minutes after the scheduled start. Just as impressive was the fact that only 4 teams in each section did not arrive for the first round (and were not paired). So the event has started with 182 federations, which was a number that surprised even the organisers. 

As for the action, a number of the top teams have rested their top boards (no sign of Carlsen as yet). The Indian team is obviously the centre of attention, being placed on Board 1 for each match, although seeded 2nd. Further down the usual suspects have gathered, including teams from PNG, Fiji and Guam. 

My work with the Technical Administration Panel has kept me quite busy, including the need to finish this post so I can run across to the 2nd playing hall to spot missing teams!

2022 Chess Olympiad - First Impressions

 I always enjoy getting to the chess olympiad a few days early, as it gives me a chance to see what goes into organising such a large event. For the 2022 Olympiad, what goes into this one, is a massive army of volunteers and staff. 

This started with me being met at the airport (actually on the airbridge), before being taken directly through customs (via the express lane) , and after collecting my luggage, being driven to my hotel. After a solid nights sleep, and a quick breakfast, I went and inspected the venue.

The venue is split into two areas, with the top boards in the existing convention centre, while the rest of the event is in a larger, purpose built, structure. Both venues are fairly spacious, with good lighting and air conditioning. The second hall has spectator areas, but as a result, space is a little tighter.

In terms of organisation, it has been pretty good so far. When I arrived both venues had already been set up (DGT boards for every match), although there was some last minute wiring and fixing going on. I spent a lot of the day helping get the TAP (Technical Administration Panel) office set up, and then checking the software that will be used to do the pairings. Tomorrow the main task will be checking on the arrival of the teams, to see who gets included in the pairings. As the drawing of lots is not going to take place until the opening ceremony, pairings won't be available until Thursday evening. Fortunately this gives us enough time to solve any last minute issues that arise.

In transit

 After a 4 year break, I am heading off to the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India. It will be an early start from Canberra, and I expect to reach the hotel quite late tomorrow night. I'm heading off a few days early as I am back on the Technical Administration Panel for the tournament, which involves a lot of work before the event actually begins. Hopefully teams will have successfully navigated the visa process, and that covid won't be an issue. 

So probably no blogging tomorrow, but after that, I should post regular updates from the tournament

That one chance

 

Black to play and win

Sometimes when all hope looks lost, there is still one final chance you need to take. The diagrammed position was from a Street Chess game today (the Black rook may have been on a different square on 2nd/7th rank). White was up an exchange (2R's v RN), and having promoted, had an extra queen as well. But it was Black to move, and Black (Simon Louie) find the only move to win the game. 1... Rg2+ left White with a choice about taking the knight, but either way, 2... g5 was checkmate! 

(NB The board is shown from Blacks point of view)

2022 ACT Winter Open

 An update on the details, entries and conditions for the 2022 ACT Winter Open (AKA ANU Open)

ACT Winter Open 2022

29-31 July (One round Friday evening, three Saturday, two Sunday)

Format: Open section and Under 1600 Section (ACF)
Time control: 60m+30s inc (FIDE Rated except for players 2400+)

Schedule: Round 1 Friday 29th 7PM,
Round 2 Sat 30th 10am, Rd 3 2pm, Round 4, 6pm
Round 5 Sun 31st 10am, Round 6 2pm Prize giving 6pm

Entry Fee: $80 ($60 concession) - GM, IM, WGM and WIM Free

Prizes: $1000 1st Open, $400 1st Minor $3600 in total

Venue: Campbell High School Library, Treloar Cres Campbell ACT

NB Masks are required to be worn inside the venue for players and spectators

Book here - ACT Winter Open

Current Entries - Open

Roland Brockman
Oladoyan Faskin
IM Junta Ikeda
Glenn Ingham
Daniel Lee
Fred Litchfield
Lalit Prasad
Leiming Yu

Current Entries - Minor

Reyansh Ahuja
Connor Amoore
Ethan Li
Riley Byng
Larry Cheng
Jerry Cheng
Cam Cunningham
Paul Dunn
CM Bill Egan
Olalowua Fasakin
Olamide Fasakin
Joshua Liang
Jason Gillard
Masaki Horikawa
Tomoki Horikawa
Keisuke Horikawa
Kamal Jain
Dev Raichura