Good start for Team Canada

[Hans Jung]

Both teams scored 4-0. Perfect.

[Dilip Panjwani]

Canada (Open) in no. 9 on Ranking crosstable after Rd. 2, sharing 1st place...

[Hans Jung]

Perfect score after round 2. Nice.

[Frank Dixon]

It will get tougher for the Men's team, starting round 3, when they face the Czech Republic (seeded #18).

Our Women's team will face Sri Lanka (seeded #96) in round 3; that seems a winnable match.

Impressive so far is WIM Svitlana Demchenko winning for Canada in round 2, over Dutch GM Peng Xaoquin, a former World Championship candidate!!

[Frank Dixon]

Here is WIM Demchenko's win over GM Peng. I got it from chessbase.com, scrolling through the games. There may be a faster way to search.

WIM Svitlana Demchenko (Canada) -- GM Peng Xaoquin (Netherlands)
Chennai Olympiad 2022 Women
Netherlands vs. Canada, rd. 2, bd. 2, played July 30, 2022
London System
Brief comments by Frank Dixon

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bg3 O-O 6.Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Qc7 8.dxc5 Bxg3 9.hxg3 Qxc5 10.Bd3 h6 11.Qa4 Nc6 12.g4! e5 13.g5! Ng4 14.gxh6! g6
[Excellent play from Svitlana, heading into a less theoretical opening line against a very strong and highly experienced player, and already creating imbalance in her opponent's king field.]
15.Be2 a6 16.Ng5 b5 17.Qd1 Nf6 18.e4 Qe7 19.a4 b4 20.exd5! bxc3 21.dxc6! cxd2+ 22.Qxd2 Bf5 23.Bc4 Ne4 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.Rc1 Bxg2?! 26.Rg1 Be4 27.b4! Kh7
[White creates significant threats on both wings, with her advanced Q-side pawns, and open K-side lines. Her own King is relatively safe in the center, showing tremendous judgement of the position. Black has enormous problems trying to hold the game.]
28.b5! axb5 29.axb5 Rfd8 30.Qb2 Rd4 31.Be2 Bd5 32.b6 Rb4 33.Qd2 Bxc6 34.Rxc6 Rb1+ 35.Rc1 Rxb6 36.Kf1! Rab8 37.Rg3 Rb2 38.Qe3! R2b4 39.Rc5 f6 40.Qc3! R8b7 41.Bh5!
[White uses her extra piece to create mating threats around the many weak K-side squares, maneuvering with her Queen, to keep switching threats.]
41...g5 42.Qd3+! e4 43.Qd5!! Kxh6 44.Qf5!!, 1-0.
[An exceptional victory!!]

[Dilip Panjwani]

Canada (open) beat the higher rated Czech Republic!
Canada (women) also win!

[Hans Jung]

Fantastic Wow! Let us all celebrate!

[Sam Sharpe]

Nice hold by Noritsyn.

[Aris Marghetis]

WOWZA!! I have no idea DURING matches, as I'm far away from both teams, but today, I found out as Arbiter friends from the countries we BEAT come over, head down lol, to congratulate me!

I just love those moments, thanks Teams Canada!

[Hans Jung]

Where can I see games?

[Hans Jung]

Nice conversion Razvan!

[Dilip Panjwani]

Where can I see games?

Chess24 as well as fide olympiad website has them....

[Hugh Siddeley]

Here is WIM Demchenko's win over GM Peng. I got it from chessbase.com, scrolling through the games. There may be a faster way to search.

WIM Svitlana Demchenko (Canada) -- GM Peng Xaoquin (Netherlands)
Chennai Olympiad 2022 Women
Netherlands vs. Canada, rd. 2, bd. 2, played July 30, 2022
London System
Brief comments by Frank Dixon

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bg3 O-O 6.Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Qc7 8.dxc5 Bxg3 9.hxg3 Qxc5 10.Bd3 h6 11.Qa4 Nc6 12.g4! e5 13.g5! Ng4 14.gxh6! g6
[Excellent play from Svitlana, heading into a less theoretical opening line against a very strong and highly experienced player, and already creating imbalance in her opponent's king field.]
15.Be2 a6 16.Ng5 b5 17.Qd1 Nf6 18.e4 Qe7 19.a4 b4 20.exd5! bxc3 21.dxc6! cxd2+ 22.Qxd2 Bf5 23.Bc4 Ne4 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.Rc1 Bxg2?! 26.Rg1 Be4 27.b4! Kh7
[White creates significant threats on both wings, with her advanced Q-side pawns, and open K-side lines. Her own King is relatively safe in the center, showing tremendous judgement of the position. Black has enormous problems trying to hold the game.]
28.b5! axb5 29.axb5 Rfd8 30.Qb2 Rd4 31.Be2 Bd5 32.b6 Rb4 33.Qd2 Bxc6 34.Rxc6 Rb1+ 35.Rc1 Rxb6 36.Kf1! Rab8 37.Rg3 Rb2 38.Qe3! R2b4 39.Rc5 f6 40.Qc3! R8b7 41.Bh5!
[White uses her extra piece to create mating threats around the many weak K-side squares, maneuvering with her Queen, to keep switching threats.]
41...g5 42.Qd3+! e4 43.Qd5!! Kxh6 44.Qf5!!, 1-0.
[An exceptional victory!!]

A nice game from a London System! As a practitioner of it, I am always happy when my opponent opens the h-file for me to their castled king (8..Bxg3 9.hxg3). Time trouble may have been creeping into the game around move 30 because 32.b6?? is considered to be an outright blunder by the compy, with the evaluation going from +1.2 to -6.5. A pity, but the GM didn't seize the opportunity to turn the tables. A good win for Svitlana, with a very nice finish!

[Dilip Panjwani]

Canada (open) draw with Iran!
Canada (women) not so lucky with Czech Republic...

[Joshua Guo]

Good job by Artiom saving a difficult/possibly lost position. Creating counter play & practical chances with 34...Nc3 and 35...e4