2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 11

 With 2 rounds to play both PNG teams were looking for a big finish. Ishmael Amnol had already secured enough points for a conditional FM title, but still need to play one more game to make it official. In the Women's team both Liberty Joku (Bd 1) and Natasha Mimino (Bd 3) both needed a win for the WCM title.

The women's team was paired with Curacao, and manged to score a 2.5-1.5 win against their higher seeded opponent. Natasha Mimino scored the win to earn PNG's first WCM title, as Chrstine Wosley also won. Tiana Kukula drew on board 4 to deliver the match win, but sadly Liberty Joku lost, dashing the hopes of a 2nd WCM title for PNG.

The Open team scored a decisive win over Pacific neighbors Kiribati (hilariously, throughout the FIDE congress the various chairs pronounced it with the hard T). PNG won 3.5-0.5, with Ishamel Amnol increasing his score to 7/9. Kavaea Evara helped boost the score, recovering from a losing position to save an additional half point. The match win was the 3rd of the tournament against other Oceania federations, helping boost the teams standing in out unofficial championship.

With 2 titles achieved in the same round, it was an historic day for PNG chess. Also of interest that St Joseph's Boroko has now produced 3 titled players (2 FM's and a WCM),  with Ishmael Amnol and Natasha Mimino attending the school in recent years, while I was a student there in 1975 and 1976!

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 10

 Round 9 of the Open Olympiad saw PNG lose to the Bahamas by a narrow 1.5-2.5 margin. Ishmael Amnol rested for this round (after 8 straight games), and having secured his conditional FM title the round before. Stuart Fancy drew on Board 1, while Bing Berredo continued his good late tournament form with a win on board 2. However some missed opportunities on the bottom 2 boards gave Bahamas enough points to edge us out.

The Women's team drew with the much higher seeded Burundi team. Liberty Joku and Natasha Mimino scored the wins for the team, and moving them up the rankings with 6 match points. It also gives both players a chance for WCM titles, depending on the result in round 10. 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 9

 Day 9 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad saw both PNG teams score big wins. The Open team won their South Pacific derby against Fiji 3-1. Previously this match was the decider in the 'small' Pacific Champs, but with the growth of chess in the Oceania region, both PNG and Fiji are now challenged by other, stronger teams.

The real highlight was again the win by Ishmael Amnol. This was his 5th win in a row, and secures a conditional FM title (once he plays his 9th game). He is on 6/8 and is performing above the 2100 rating mark needed to be awarded the title. PNG also saw wins to Stuart Fancy on board 1 and Bing Barredo on board 2.

The Women's team had an even bigger win, scoring 3.5 points against the Seychelles. Liberty Joku scored her 3rd win of the tournament on board 1, with wins for Lucy Age (go Amaroo Primary!) and Tiana Kukula on board 4. 

Both the Open and Women's teams are on 5 match points, and with winnable matches today (fingers crossed) are looking for a strong finish to the event. 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 8

 (And on the 7th day, everyone rested)

A number of teams who thought they would enjoy the rest day, came back even more exhausted than they thought. With the hot weather in Samarkand, and the busy tour schedules for the cultural tours, it was no surprise that players turned up for the 2nd half of the event almost as tired as when the finished the first half.

The PNG Open team lost to Gambia 1-3. Once again Ishmael Amnol scored the win (and is now on 5/7), although Stuart Fancy missed a clear win towards the end, which would have allowed the team to split the points. The Women's team continues to grow in confidence, drawing with Dominica 2-2, with Christine Wosley and Liberty Joku both scoring wins. So both teams are now on 3 match points, and aiming for a strong finish. 

The Australian Women's team drew 2-2 with the much higher seeded Israel team. Heather Richards took the principled stand of sitting out the match (she was scheduled to play) , sticking to her strongly held humanitarian beliefs. The Australian open team went down to the strong Hungary team 1.5-2.5 but Bobby Cheng's win over Richard Rapport on board 1 was an outstanding result.

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 6

 The final round before the rest day saw some very tired chess (from lots of teams). The PNG Open team had a solid 2-2 draw with Sierra Leone, drawing on the top 2 boards, winning on board 3, and losing on board 4. The Board 3 win the Ishmael Amnol took him to 4/6 and secured him the CM title, as even he loses his next game, he has passed 50% for 7 games. (Spoilers - he did not lose his next round game). 

The Women's team  had a more difficult time, losing to Laos 3-1. But the highlight for the team was a win by Christine Wosley , who scored her first Olympiad win with a nice queen sacrifice at the end.

The after round action was at the Bermuda Party, which sadly has become a shadow of ots former self. What used to be an organic, not to serious, pre rest day fun event run by the Bermuda team, has now been taken over by successive organising committee , who simply run it as a fully corporate style function, with over regulation, a cookie cutter set of techno DJ's, and not enough service areas for the crowds that turn up. While it is a good way to catch up with friends, it has lost a lot of the spontaneity that made it a success in the first place. 

 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 5

 (Apologies for the missed reports - FIDE Congress has started)

 After the outstanding effort in round 4, round 5 saw a tough pairing for the Women's team. Against a more experienced Jersey team they lost 3-1, but still scored a fantastic win board 3, with Natasha Mimino playing a great attacking game to beat her opponent in 19 moves.

The Open team lost to Mali 3-1, but unlike some rounds where we were unlucky, we were definitely lucky in our win. Ishmael Amnol was totally lost in a rook and pawn eneding, but his opponent misplayed it badly, resulting in a drawn position. After rejecting Ishmael's draw offer, he then blundered a 2nd time, allowing Ishmael to find a nice trick to reach a Q (for Ishmael) v R ending. But realizing he had blundered, the opponent offered his hand, and when Ishmael shook it (assuming it was a resignation), the opponent then said "Draw". However Ismael was having none of this, explained to the arbiter what had happened, and the game continued for the 5 or so moves until the Mali player finally made his last blunder. 

As for the other Oceania federations (sans Australia and NZ) , Guam is once again leading the way. The have 2 wins from 5 matches, putting them ahead of the other 9 (small) federations. In the Women's events, Guam and Fiji share the lead, both scoring 1 match win and 1 match draw.

 

 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 4

 An historic day for PNG Women's Chess with the Women's team beating Grenada 4-0. Having started with three 4-0 defeats, not only was this the first Olympiad win for the team, it was also the first Olympiad wins for the players as well. Natasha Mimino recorded the first win for the team, but this was soon followed by Luciana Age, Liberty Joku and Tiania Kukula all adding points for the team.

In the Open section the PNG team lost 1.5 - 2.5 to Saudi Arabia. The result could have been significantly different as Bing Barredo missed a forced win and got mated shortly after. Ishmael Amnol once again demonstrated his growing talent by picking up his 2nd win of the event to go to 2/4, while Tom McCoy scored half a point in a game where both sides seemed to sense that draw was the inevitable outcome, despite missed wins for both sides!

But the real controversy of the day was the default loss by GM David Smerdon  in his game against Albania, after he was found to have left his watch on during the game. The watch itself was not a communication device, but the tournament rule still requires a player wearing any kind of watch to be DQ'd.  Fortunately the rest of the team covered for this unfortunate outcome by scoring 2.5/3 to win the match.