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The swiss is clearly in play as the women get paired "up" to a solid team from Belarus ( seed #26 ) and the men are still paired "down" to Trinidad ( seed #111 ).
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Re: Round 8 Olympiad
As 4th from the bottom in tiebreak, the women play 4th from the top (of the 8-matchpoint group), Belarus. If Canada had scored half a point more against Slovenia, we'd have 1/2 x 10 (Slovenia's matchpoint score) = 5 tiebreak points more, making us 4 places higher and giving a pairing instead against Croatia. Well, frankly, not a lot of difference for us. With half a game point less, we drop a rung on the ladder, but since we've already played Cuba and England, we'd probably play Belarus anyway.
Just to underline that points in lost matches do make a difference. And so do points in won matches! -
Re: Round 8 Olympiad
The pairing against Trinidad is also interesting. First board for Trinidad is Ryan Harper, whom we've seen here at Canadian tournaments. In the first round, Trinidad crushed New Zealand (which may have regretted resting Murray Chandler). They also beat Bermuda and Liechtenstein (these were not upsets).
But what's interesting about the pairing is that Canada, as #1 tiebreak team with 7 matchpoints, floated down to the 6 matchpoint group and plays a team in the middle of that group. I'm sure that the idea is to equalize tiebreaks as much as possible within the same matchpoint group, but let's look a little closer. Assuming that we beat Trinidad, we'll be together with a bunch of teams who started round 8 with 9 matchpoints and then scored 1.5 or less against the team that beat them, which consequently will have 11 matchpoints. So they'll have added 1.5 x 11 = 16.5 tiebreak points to their current total. But if Canada beats Trinidad with a clean score, it will have added 4 x 6 = 24 tiebreak points to its total. Canada will be staying ahead of the tiebreak game, so long as it can beat up on weaker teams, it might continue to get beatable teams as opponents. At least for Round 9....Comment
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Re: Round 8 Olympiad - Canada vs Malta
The official site (http://www.chessolympics.com/index.m.eng.html) has Canada vs Malta for round 8 as of 5:00pm EST.Comment
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Re: Round 8 Olympiad
I only meant paired "up" in that they get a higher seed but of course their positive match total meant they were going to get a challenging match. That being said looking at Belarus they are a little like England and I think on a good day our women can definately beat them. Mongolia had some success against them in an earlier round. So I think this is an excellent opportunity.
The men managed to get into an accidental swiss gambit now but still four rounds they might ride the wave to a good final position. The old format of 13+ rounds with game scores of course none of these rounds would be as meaningful as they are now.Comment
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Re: Round 8 Olympiad - Canada vs Malta
Thanks, Dave.Originally posted by Dave Broughton View Post
Hmm, as of now, the chess-results site
http://chess-results.info/tnr16314.a...30&m=-1&wi=800
still has Canada versus Trinidad. Malta is shown as having 4 matchpoints, thus is an impossible pairing for Canada, which has 7. Maybe Malta's round 7 result (3-1 for Panama at chess-results and at the live games, and the game positions all look plausible) was entered incorrectly and the chess-results site isn't reflecting that yet. Time will tell.
Frankly, I'd give the edge in credibility to chess-results.
Malta, Trinidad, doesn't change the meaning of the pairing!Comment
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Re: Round 8 Olympiad - Canada vs Malta
The Chess Results site was more accurate than the official site! The official site now had Canada vs Trinidad.
Just hope they do well whoever they play! I would like to see them finish higher than their initial ranking.Comment
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Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
Posted on CFC Chess Forum ( www.chesscanada.info/forum/ ) today:
Rd. 8 sees Canada's Women's team playing Belarus on Bd. 18.
WFM Yuanling Yuan ( 2157 ) is on second board ( 18.2 ) playing WIM Nadezhda Azarova ( 2308 ).
Since Yuanling is a member of my chess club, Scarborough CC, I ( read Fritz ) will be doing live analysis of her game on the chess website, Chess5 ( www.chess5.com ). When you get to the homepage, click on " Public Games " to get the November list of games. Find the game, and then click on " View " and you will get a board and the score, with analysis ( it takes a few seconds for the game to load ). Hope you find it interesting.
BobComment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
I don't like Mark's pawn structure, but c3 defending a N at d4 always turns out better than it looks, and having a dark-square bishop (when his opponent doesn't) will pay dividends later.
Igor has gambited a pawn. He has nebulous counter-attacking (both the king and his opponent's central pawns) compo, but I like White.
Thomas's opponent made the ...d5 break in a complex King's Indian. Changes to the position are about to happen right away!
Nikolay's opponent has covered his weaknesses, but they are still weaknesses and he doesn't have anything to distract Black from incubating new ones.
So on balance, I like Canada's positions, even if the players were of equal strength.Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
In opposite-side castling, Natalia started sacrificing stuff, but Sharevich wouldn't take it and now Natalia is up a pawn. Her king doesn't look too exposed, but of course the bulk of the battle lies ahead.
Yuanling is carefully manoeuvring against a Sicilian. Black has the initiative, but does she have anything concrete?
Dina's getting routed. Oops, now it's official.
Hazel won a piece.
So Canada's chances look OK in this match!Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
Natalia was (is) in time trouble. I don't know if other ways were better (or worse!), for example h7-h5 instead of Bd8-f6 (not using an engine of course), but Sharevich has regained her pawn with a strong initiative and a passed pawn. Opposite Bs are a factor.
Now White is a P up. But Black has centralized her K, which in this context is a good thing.
Hazel got pinned. I hope that she can break it. She sac'd a P back to lure Black's pieces into an unstable configuration.Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
Mark won a pawn while increasing his positional edge.
The other three games have lots of action. Attacks, sacrifices, passed pawns, you name it!Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
Nikolay's mating attack worked.
Thomas seems to have won by a tempo. There's a Qe5+ exploiting the pinned R at e8.Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
Canada up 3-0, and a clean sweep isn't out of the question. The bishop is better than the knight, especially if you can eliminate the g5-pawn. Of course, White isn't helpless. A few moves later: nothing like what I imagined actually happened. It's still exciting, though!Comment
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Re: Rd. 8 - Women's Team - In Progress
The women situation is painful.
I don't think Igor has any winning chances.Comment
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