Round 1 (Sunday October 28th) Games We are actually seeded 38th out of 40 (but see last paragraph), with Monaco, even though they have a GM, below us along with Cyprus. Inevitably with such a seeding, we faced tough opposition in round 1. Wales (38) - Croatia (16)
1. Richard Jones FM 2327 (W) 0 - 1 Z. Kozul GM 2609
2. Tim Kett 2257 0 - 1 M. Palac GM 2567
3. Charles Morris 2198 0 - 1 R. Zelcic GM 2578
4. John Trevelyan 2191 0 - 1 A. Brkic GM 2577 Games in the order they finished (without having analysed them)
Charles' preparation lasted all of 1 move (!), when instead of the anticipated English-Nimzo setup, after 1.Nf3 Black played 1...d5, transposing into a QGD Cambridge Springs. Charles went wrong early on losing a pawn and forfeiting castling (....Qxc3+, Kf1), but did well to create some counterplay in the form of a passed 'd' pawn. However, he crucially later lost control of e3 to allow a swift and neat finish.
John played his usual Philidor (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5), with his opponent playing, rather than 4.dxe5 as previously, 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.g4. Nothing new to John who achieved a solid position, but without any real counterplay. White untangled his pieces, castled Q-side, and pressed hard on the K-side. John defended well but blundered in the end in a position which may have still been playable.
Tim played the Bird's Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4) which seemed to catch his opponent unawares, with both players spending a long time over the early phase, and Black reaching a perfectly acceptable position. After perhaps one loose move by Tim, the position got very tactical, eventually resulting in White having Rook + 2 Bishops against Queen. Tim complicated as best he could, but to no avail.
In an open Sicilian, Black caught Richard unprepared in the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6, but Richard achieved an aggressive setup, with Black surprisingly happy to leave his k-side undeveloped and just press on the q-side. Richard perhaps should have played a complicated f5 at one point, but thereafter B consolidated to reach an ending with 2 bishops and a better pawn structure, which he duly converted.
So we're up and running, and disappointing as 0 - 4 is, we are unlikely to meet such a powerful team again in this tournament.
Today (Monday October 29th) we are paired against 27th seeded Norway, 2 GMs and 2 IMs, headed by the brilliant youngster Magnus Carlsen.
On a disappointing note, Bosnia failed to appear thus creating a Bye in this and subsequent rounds, which we will inevitably get (match points, then rating rather than game points) unless we are doing fantastically well. Let's hope it's the latter.
Stuart Hutchings
Captain, Wales | 
