Saturday 15 November 2008

Olympiad Day 2

Round 2 got off to a delayed start after the board pairings were published, despite 40 teams having the wrong team lists reported. This was due to an arbiter failing to collect the team sheets on time, which resulted in the missing teams being listed as playing their top 4. The error was discovered late enough to effect team preparation, so the round was held up for an hour.
The other weird thing about this round was the boards that some of the teams were playing on. Due to the accelerated pairing system a powerhouse match like Hungary v Latvia was being played on board 51, while on board 18 Jersey was playing Malaysia. Expect more chaos tommorow as the acceleration comes to an end and some teams on 0 match points (like Australia!) end up amonsgt other teams with 0 match points (like PNG!)
PNG were paired with Sri Lanka, which on paper outrated us slightly, although a 2-2 result was quite possible. In the end we went down 3.5-0.5, with losses on boards 1,3 and 4. Once again I proved that no anti-draw measure can stop me, as I recorded yet another draw, the second of the Olympiad and the 11th in my last 15 Olympiad games. Annoyingly I missed a win, and probably a pretty basic one. A pawn up in a rook and pawn ending, I did all the right things until right to the very end, when I suddenly couldn't find the key idea, and offered a draw.
Not making me any happier was the slightly unpleasent end to the game. I offered a draw, which my opponent accepted with a handshake. The arbiter came over, but foolishly I had left my clock running. As we were recording the result, the Sri Lankan team captain, Sunil Weeramantry tried to claim a win for his player as my clock had reached zero. I suggested he not try that on, when he became all indignant about my suggestion, claiming he was merely joking. Although I apologised for any misunderstanding, I wasn't happy with the whole situation.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you made a typical mistake
in the rook ending. You could not
cut the king further than f file,
but you could along the 4th row.
It is often forgotten that cutting
the king along the row is just
as effective as along the file.
So I would suggest something
like g5, Rf4, Kg4 etc.

You are playing very well so far!
Wish you all the best.

Unknown said...

Those 70 move plus games are hard to lose Shaun. I've been there - most people have, and its not a great feeling. What's worse is that it was a missed opportunity because your opponent was rated below 2100.

Anyway, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and best of luck in the next round.

Alex

ps- If you have the pgn of your round 2 game, can you please email it to me?