2008 Olympiad Dresden

Round 1 Report

R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

R7

R8

R9

R10

R11

Round 6

Games

Pre-Round 6

Yesterday was a rest day, allowing the players to recharge their batteries, particularly after the Bermuda party the night before.

After a heavy and demoralising loss in round 5 (we were better in all games at one point before going down to a 0.5 – 3.5 loss), I am hoping the team can bounce back today. This is the level of opponent where if the team wants to be seen back home as performing well, they need to win. We have so far beaten 2 teams seeded below us, lost to 2 teams seeded above us and a 3^rd below us, weneed to start doing well against teams rated slightly higher than us.

A brilliant result, games in the order they finished
Jon’s (B) QGD turned into an IQP, in which W managed to exchange his ‘a’ pawn for W’s ‘e’ pawn‘ (a5 Qxa5, B{on a2} xe6 with the ‘a1’ rook now attacking the Q). Although B’s Queen bishop was liberated, this position favoured W, with B’s pieces finding it difficult to co-ordinate. W won B’s ‘b’ pawn and broke through down the ‘b’ file.

Ioan’s (B) game was a London system (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4) which turned out to be a very reasonable Slav type position for B as W’s ‘c’ pawn was still on a2. B managed to lock up the kingside, and probed down the ‘b’ file, winning the ‘a ‘ pawn, and was much the better when the game ended rather bizarrely.

As I mentioned previously the time limit is 40/90, 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment from move 1. Rather unusually, instead of the 30 minutes being added after 40 moves, it is added after 90 minutes, so this could happen at e.g. move 50. Ioan’s opponent had already, on a previous move, got down to 1 second before moving and having 30 seconds added, but a move or 2 later (still around move 30) Ioan was thinking and noticed his opponent’s clock now showed 30 minutes. He  brought this to the arbiter’s attention, and a win on time was duly awarded to Ioan, as his opponent had used his 90 minutes but now reached move 40.

Richard (W) played the ‘Welsh Attack’ (Bc4, Bg5, Qf3) against the Sicilian Najdorf, and got a formidable position against his GM opponent. He relentlessly attacked B’s king, whilst making a few deft touches to secure his own position. Ever the critical, Richard says he probably could have won quicker, but the result was never in doubt, and B is completely helpless when he resigned. An excellent performance.

Tim (W) in a French Winawer, sacrificed his ‘a’ pawn for dangerous play on the k-side. The game got very complicated, with many sacrifices possible, and both players using a lot of time. Tim kept pressing, and the game could have ended abruptly when B blundered, but this was followed by one from W (f6 ?? by B, should have been answered by Qe8+). A time scramble later ensued where B suddenly got attacking chances himself, but the game petered out to a repetition. Tim might have chanced playing on but it would have had its risks, and quite correctly agreed the draw to secure the match. 

The women played the IPCA, comprising physically handicapped people from a few nations, notably Russia and India, and drew 2 – 2 with Olivia and Julie v K winning, but unfortunately Julie W and Megan losing.

Stuart Hutchings,

Captain, Wales Men