2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 5

At the end of the 5th round of the 2024 Chess Olympiad only 4 teams remain at the top. India, Vietnam, Hungary and China. In terms of game points, India are well in front, having scored 18/20. These 4 play today (in fact are playing right now), with Hungary v India being the most watched game.

There was an Ashes pairing further down with England v Australia on board 11. England emerged as the narrow winner 2.5-1.5 although Bobby Cheng defeated David Howell in the last game of that match to finish. New Zealand went down in a disappointing loss to a lower ranked Puerto Rico 1.5-2.5. On the other hand PNG scored it's second win of the tournament, beating traditional opponents San Marino 2.5-1.5. Guam, Fiji and Vanuatu were roughed up by their opponents, while Palau lost by a narrower margin of 2.5-1.5 against Saint Lucia. 

Today is the last round before the rest day. The timing of tomorrows post is entirely dependent upon the result of the 'B' Olympiad, which is being played at the Bermuda Party this evening.

Grassi, Enrico vs Jones, Rupert
2024 Chess Olympiad, Round 5, 2024

2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 4

 Day 4 of the 2024 Chess Olympiad saw some tough games, and some significant upsets. Board 1 saw the USA get clipped by the Ukraine team, with the Ukrainians winning 2.5-1.5. The other big upset was Vietnam beating Uzbekistan 3-1, with 2 wins and 2 draws for the lower rated team.

The trans-Tasman clash between Australia and New Zealand ended in a narrow win for Australia 2.5-1.5. Felix Xie beat GM Temur Kuybokarov on board 1 while a draw between GM David Smerdon and Daniel Gong in the last game to finish secured the win for the Australian team.

PNG lost 1.5-2.5 to Afghanistan, which wasn't bad considering the rating difference. Stuart Fancy had a good win on board 1, while Rupert Jones drew on board 3. Palau drew 2-2 with Tanzania, while Guam, Vanuatu, and Fiji all went down.

The most interesting match up today (from a Pacific point of view) is the Ashes clash between Australia and England on Board 11. On Board 1, Azerbaijan will be hoping to slow the Indian juggernaut,   with the Indian team only dropping 1 game point (out of 16) so far.

2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 3

Day 3 of the Chess Olympiad saw a number of strong teams come together. Australia faced Ukraine in a match that saw Ivanchuk and (super) Ponomariov turn out. After a tough match Ukraine won 2.5-1.5, although GM Bobby Cheng scored a memorable win over Ivanchuk. At the very top most of the favoured teams on, although Italy beating The Netherlands 3-1 was definitely an upset.

 PNG scored their first win of the tournament, beating Guernsey 2.5-1.5. Stuart Fancy and Tom McCoy won on boards 1 and 2, while Terry Stuart scored his first Olympiad draw, having his higher rated opponent under pressure for most of the game. Guam and Fiji also won their round 3 matches, Palau drew and Vanuatu lost against a tough Tunisia.

The other exciting incident (apart from the PNG win) involved Magnus Carlsen almost being defaulted after deciding to ride to the venue. Due to heavy rain, and an unfamiliarity with the venue, he missed the start time and only made it to the board after the round had started, but before the default time.  After this, he may reconsider his travel plans.

2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 2

 The 2nd day of the 2024 Chess Olympiad was a pretty smooth affair, with a number of closer matches on offer. At the top of the table in the Open there were a few 2-2 results (Canada v Norway, Israel v Ireland) that raised some eyebrows, but the real rating upsets haven't started yet.

Australia picked up another win, 3-1 over Zimbabwe. New Zealand went close against the higher seeded Argentina, losing 2.5-1.5, with a win by IM Sravan Renjith being the highlight for the Kiwi's.

The other Oceania teams had a harder time, all losing to higher ranked opponents. PNG has the best chances for an upset, with a win by Tom McCoy on board 2, and winning, and then drawing chances for Rupert Jones on board 3. Jones missed a win in the middle game, and then bailed out to an ending where he left his opponent with a K+2N. Unfortunately he had a pawn left , and his opponent was able to avoid any stalemates, eventually finding the winning method for these types of positions.

2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 1

 The 2024 Chess Olympiad got off to a pretty good start, especially in terms of the pairings. For the first time in my memory, there were no forfeited matches in either event (although there were a few no shows in individual games). The PNG team was the beneficiary of one of those no shows, with Tom McCoy scoring an early (forfeit) win on board 2. Unfortunately the rest of the Bolivian team did show up, resulting in a 3-1 win to them.

Across both events all matches went according to seeding, with one small exception. Vanuatu were originally given the bye in the Open, but the late arrival of the team from the Democratic Republic of Congo meant we could pair these teams. Although DRC was nominally the favourite  on rating (in that Vanuatu players did not have ratings), the debutantes defeated the DRC 2.5-1.5.

Another great result occurred in the Fiji v Ireland match. Although Fiji lost 0.5-3.5, CM Rudr Prasad drew with GM Alexander Baburin on board 2. A real confidence booster for young champion.

CM Rudr Prasad vs GM Alexander Baburin
2024 Chess Olympiad, Round 1, 2024

2024 Chess Olympiad - Day 0.5

 I normally make these posts at the end of the day (after the round) or the following morning. However, while there is a bit of lull, I thought I would sneak in a quick report about start of the first report.

As with all Olympiads, the first round does throw up some interesting challenges. The main one is making sure all the teams are present, so the round can start on time. Also normal is that the first round *never* starts on time. In this case the round did start a little late, in part due to transport issue for a few teams. Nonetheless the round only began 20 minutes late, with the exception of a few games, which started a bit later.

One thing the organisers did do well is to handle the large crowd of players trying to enter the playing hall. I have seen some absolute chaos at previous Olympiads, with queues well out the door, but this wasn't the case this time. I did have some issues finding some teams we needed to deal with (in terms of pairings), but overall it was a smooth start.

On bizarre occurrence was one team staging a boycott as their flag was printed incorrectly. The solution involved an arbiter drawing the missing colours on the player cards (with a texta), which satisfied the team concerned.

2024 Olympiad Day 0

 It turns out I am already losing track of the days. Today is the main arrival day for the Olympiad, and my main task is seeing which teams have/will arrive in time for the first round tomorrow. This task has been compounded by the visa difficulties that a number of teams have faced, which is either being semi-solved by appealing visa rejections, or by simply replacing team members with players who don't need a visa (aka the PNG method).

On the plus side, everybody is getting a Rubik's Cube (in the welcome pack). Hopefully these will be banned from the playing hall during the rounds, otherwise the Olympiad runs the risk of looking like a NSW Junior Chess Championship.

2024 Olympiad Day -2

 There are still 2 days to go before Round 1 of the Olympiad. Tomorrow is the arrival day (and opening ceremony) with play starting on Wednesday. I've been in and out of the venue over the last few days, helping get my part of the tournament set up (pairings and team registrations).

One piece of good news is that soft drinks/water/juice will be provided to the players (always a good sign). The venue lighting also looks good, so there will be no complaints about that. And the other good idea for players/spectators who are here, the Budapest 15 day metro/bus pass is only around 15 euros, and is well worth the investment. There is a metro stop right outside the playing hall, while you can also use it to ger around the city during your free time.

In Hungary

 I've now reached Hungary, to prepare for the 2024 Chess Olympiad. While for players and match arbiters, the hard work begins with round 1, for the Technical Administration Panel (aka the pairings team), hard work starts a few days out.

The main issue is making sure all the teams have arrived. For this year this is especially tricky, as a number of countries have had visa issues (including PNG). So at some point I will be camped at the Airport, trying to catch teams as they come off the plane, to establish if they have all turned up.

Fortunately we have a few days to confirm team arrivals, although in some cases, teams are cutting it very fine in terms of arrival. This isn't that unusual in some cases, including (iirc) my own Olympiad debut in 2000, where I think I arrived on the morning of the first round.

The 1st round for the Olympiad isn't until the 11th (a Wednesday) so you have plenty of time to get prepared. Rounds start at 11pm Canberra time, so you can either choose to stay up late, or catch the summaries the next morning before school/work/coffee!

League

I ran another club rapid last night at the Leeds Chess Club, and we had a good turnout of 24 players. Such events are not that usual, as most club nights are filled with League chess, something that isn't that common in Australia. In fact I pitched event as a 'warm up' for the league season, although everyone played with a little more intensity than someone going for a training run.

One of the first events of the season is a 6 team blitz event. Due to the popularity of the event (and the small size of the venue), only one team per club is able to play. And it is a traditional lightning tournament as well, with a 10 second buzzer being used, instead of chess clocks. The talk at the club was that Leeds CC were looking to win the trophy, having not won it for a number of years (like Leeds United I guess)

Sadly I will not be here for it, as I am off to the Chess Olympiad in a few days. I am arriving a few days early, to help sort out the usual chaos of team arrivals (or non arrivals) as part of the Technical Administration Panel. I assume I will have time to manage the odd post to this blog, but I cannot guarantee it!

Appletreewick International

 I've just finished playing in one of the more interesting international events I've ever been part of. The Appletreewick International was held in a converted schoolhouse in the Yorkshire Dales, and consisted of 14 players from various corners of the world. Apart from myself (Australia/PNG) there were players from USA, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ireland and of course the UK. The majority of players were also Chess Set Collectors (https://chesscollectorsinternational.org/) although a number of local players also took part.

The brainchild of John Jordan , the tournament consisted of a 9 round qualifying event (G/15m) followed by a semi final and final on the 2nd day (G/45m). I stumbled into the finals on 5.5/9, and then winning a blitz playoff against Robin Browne who tied with me. In the semi-final I lost to Colm Barry, repeating my loss from the preliminary rounds. I was slightly cheered by the knowledge that my opponent had played board 1 for Ireland in the 1984 Olympiad and is still a strong player. In the Final Barry played Jon Crumiller (the other player to beat me). In a very tense game Barry had a clear material advantage but running short of time, missed a mating attack which decided the game in Crumiller's favour. In keeping with the tournaments setting the first place prize was a flat cap and a set of braces, plus a jar of humbugs.

The tournament was a brilliant idea and very enjoyable. Despite the convivial setting, the quality of chess was quite high, with most of the players in the 1800-2300 range. Alongside the event were a number of social activities, including a tournament dinner, late night walks, and the hunt for mobile phone reception. Even the accommodation was top notch, with most of the players staying at  Parcevall Hall. While the lack of internet was annoying for those of us wedded to their devices, the rest of the stay could not be faulted.

Overall it was a great event. The only downside is that John Jordan is retiring as an organiser (after 10 years), so a new organiser will need to step up for next year. The good news is that this is likely to happen, with the event continuing in both the same format, and at the Parcevall Hall venue.