Good start for Team Canada

[David Ottosen]

Very curious what's happening with the top board on Austria. Four straight forfeit losses, with different players.

[Bob Armstrong]

If you are going to forfeit, best to do so on the board you are going to lose anyway! Seems like a sound strategy to me.............

Are the first board players forfeiting the whole team rotating through first board? It is rather transparent if the bottom-ranked is always on first board and forfeiting, so the stronger players effectively all move down a board (Higher chance of success).

The "Why" though.........pretty incomprehensible.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

It could be that both two top players got sick and can not play anymore.

[Rene Preotu]

The most shocking moment of Olympiad 2022 | The illegal move by Sam Shankland - YouTube

[Stephen Wright]

https://www.chesscanada.info/forum/s...1635#post41635

[Frank Dixon]

Round 8 brought another excellent match for the Canadian Women's team, which is now ranked 33rd, with an initial average rating of #55. Our women drew with Colombia, a higher ranked team. Most astonishing was our win on board 4, where Yu Han Guo (FIDE 1630) scored her biggest win of the tournament, defeating, with the Black pieces, IM Paula Andrea Rodriguez Rueda (2237)!!!! That is a 607 point upset!!!! The probability of this is under 1 per cent. I haven't been able to locate that game score yet.

Canada has won four matches, drawn two, and lost only two. They will face Turkey Women in round 9; this is another higher-ranked team.

And they are playing with only four players, who each have played every round so far. I believe the CFC needs to explain this situation, on the record, but perhaps this can wait until the tournament is complete.

On board two, WIM Svitlana Demchenko continued her exceptional play with another win in round 8. She has scored 7 out of 8, with six wins and two draws!!!!

[Kerry Liles]

And they are playing with only four players, who each have played every round so far. I believe the CFC needs to explain this situation, on the record, but perhaps this can wait until the tournament is complete.

Elsewhere it was reported that there were some withdrawals just before the start of the tournament (Zhou? Botez?) ...not entirely sure who/why.
Apparently there were massive problems with visas and most likely last minute air fares/reservations would be unpleasant hassles as well.

[Frank Dixon]

Here is that win by board 4 for Canada in round 8. It is a tremendous performance of sound positional play and precise evaluation!!

IM Paula Andrea Rodriguez Rueda (2237) -- Yu Han Guo (1630)
2022 Chennai Olympiad Women, round 8, Colombia vs Canada, bd. 4, played Aug. 6
Queen's Gambit, Classical, 5.Bf4, D37
Brief comments by Frank Dixon

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7
[Played by Charousek in the 1890s, and possibly dating back further, as a refinement over 3...Nf6, to limit White's options away from lines with Ng1-e2.]
4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.Be2 Bb7 8.Ne5!?
[Seemingly not played before, as per 365chess.com. Known are the most popular choice 8.O-O, as well as 8.cxd5, 8.h3, and 8.Qc2.]
8...Nbd7 9.O-O c5 10.cxd5 Nxe5 11.d6!? Ng6! 12.dxe7 Qxe7 13.Bg3 Rfd8 14.Qa4 cxd4 15.exd4 Qd7
[Black seems at least equal here, and has a clear target with the isolated d-pawn.]
16.Qa3 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Qxd5! 18.Bf3 Qd7 19.Bxb7 Qxb7
[Black has a slight edge, with a very solid position, no real weaknesses, and more active play with her majors on the open lines.]
20.Rac1 Rd7 21.Rc4 Rc8 22.Rxc8+ Qxc8 23.h3 h6 24.Qc3 Qd8 25.Qa3 a5!
[Patience, as the weak d-pawn is not going away.]
26.Qc3 Ne7!
[Heading for a dominant post on d5.]
27.Rc1 Rxd4 28.Kh2 Rd1 29.Rc2 Qd3!
[The exchange of Queens will highlight Black's advantage.]
30.Qxd3 Rxd3 31.Be5 Nd5! 32.a3 Kh7 33.Rc6 Kg6! 34.h4 h5 35.Bd6 Rd2 36.b4 axb4 37.axb4 Rxf2 38.Be5 Re2! 39.Bd4 Re4 40.Bxb6 Rxh4+, 0-1.
[Superb game by Black, in true young Capablanca style.]

[Hans Jung]

Thanks for the great reporting Frank, lovely to see!

[Hans Jung]

Great game Eric!

[Hans Jung]

Rd 8 Team Canada lost to Turkey 3-1. The women tied Columbia thanks to Yu Han Guo (reported above) and another win by Svitlana Demchenko! (7 out of 8!)

[Salim Belcadi]

Great performance from Team Canada with 4-0 against Latvia.

Did IM Raja Panjawni just score a GM Norm? I think his performance over the 7 games he played is over 2600 and I understand that only 7 games are needed at the Olympiads for a norm.
Or am I just hallucinating? :)

[Dilip Panjwani]

Great performance from Team Canada with 4-0 against Latvia.

Did IM Raja Panjawni just score a GM Norm? I think his performance over the 7 games he played is over 2600 and I understand that only 7 games are needed at the Olympiads for a norm.
Or am I just hallucinating? :)

I believe he does not need more norms, just needs to get his rating to 2500...

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 Team Canada swept Latvia 4-0! and the women beat Turkey thanks to Yu Han Guo who continues her superb play and Morgen Mills. Svitlana Demchenko keeps adding to her stellar performance.

[Hans Jung]

Both Team Canadas are in the 20's in placing well ahead of their initial placing. Go Team Canada Go!