The Olympiad Trip - Day 15

Today was the big day as far as the non-chess portion of this Olympiad was concerned ... the election of the FIDE President was decided today while round 9 was underway a short distance away in Tromso ... and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov won the vote over Garry Kasparov 110-61. I decided to stop by the Expo area before the round started & it was very different ... completely deserted!

 No-one to be found at the FIDE First booth

Kasparov booth also with no staff

I was again on board 18 today, which had the clash between Croatia & Belgium. Croatia had the advantage in rating on all boards & for once, the rating favourites came out on top fairly convincingly, with a 3-1 win.

 The matchups on board 18 today

Boards all ready for the arrival of players

Players ready to start their games

For me the clear highlight & Game of the Round was watching Zdenko Kozul up close demolish young FM Thibaut Vandenbussche. Unlike some of the spectacular tactical games Kozul has produced over his career, today he simply outplayed Vandenbussche & squeezed him positionally, gaining space, improving his pieces & removing any opportunity for his opponent to get some counterplay. Indeed the final position is a triumph of this strategy - black is already two pawns down & is faced with the alternatives of an immediate checkmate, or blocking with a piece (leaving it pinned) as well as taking away the final safe square of another piece! A fantastic game to play through!



Did you know ... young Belgians Bart Michiels & Tanguy Ringoir warm up for their games by doing tactical exercises from a chess book before their games

 Bart & Tanguy solving puzzles before their games

Their book of choice: Tactical  Targets in Chess Volume 2

Did you know ... Englishman Matthew Sadler likes to meditate before his chess games. He has been photographed on more than one occasion in the pose below before his games

A quick trip to the Expo area after my match was finished revealed something else about the Kasparov booth ...

Not only is it deserted, but the tablets have been removed & covered in black Kasparov bags. I'll be interested to see the state of the display tomorrow ...

The Aussies had a mixed day, with the Open team having a narrow 2.5-1,5 win over Portugal, while the Women's team had a narrow 1.5-2.5 loss to Kyrgyzstan. Tomorrow the Open team face Tajikistan, while the Woman face neighbours New Zealand.

 The final games in the Australia v Portugal match (Illingworth won, while Smerdon lost)

An interesting clash with Latvia v Spain. Here Shirov is playing against former team mate Vallejo Pons. The game ended in a draw.

Magnus Carlsen in action against Turkey

The Olympiad Trip - Day 12

Today I was back at table 14 for the Germany v Belgium clash, which once again looked like a mismatch on paper, with the Germans outrating their opponents on all board & having 4 GMs playing against 2 GMs, 1 IM & 1 FM. However, as seems to be the case with matches I have been supervising, things didn't go to plan, with Germany eventually only just winning 2.5-1.5 thanks to a nice win on board 4 by Doeberl Cup winner Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, while the other three games were all draws, even though Germany looked to have the advantage in at least two of those games.

 The matchups for today's clash between Germany & Belgium

Boards ready for the arrival of players

Players ready to begin

 

Game of the Round for this round was Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu's win on board 4

  

Did you know ... Armenian board 1 (and boyfriend of Australia's Arianne Caoili) Levon Aronian brings his own tea & plunger to games, similar to the ones in the photo below

He also managed to finish his game today with GM Michael Adams from England with, would you believe it, 1 hour 39 minutes on his clock (they agreed to a draw on move 31). That means he GAINED 9 minutes during the game (pretty impressive with a 30 second increment when playing one of the world's top GMs)!
Today I also saw Lennart Ootes, who played in last year's Australasian Masters, who is in Tromso working for New In Chess at their stand in the Expo area. People who visited the stand received a free copy of a back issue of New In Chess, as well as the possibility of subscribing to the magazine at a significantly discounted rate. Yes, I am now a subscriber, so will have a fantastic publication mailed to me every 6 weeks or so!

My free issue of New In Chess, from earlier in 2014

Also in the Expo area, at the Kasparov booth, is Chess Victoria President Leonid Sandler, talking with Ignatius Leong

There are also TV screens in the Expo area showing the Chess24 internet coverage - here with some fairly impressive shots from the cameras mounted at each of the top boards

I also managed to capture an important moment in the Australian Open team's match with Botswana - Anton Smirnov winning the final game of the match to secure a 3.5-0.5 win for the Aussies!

To clarify my description of the playing hall from the other day, I found a sign which shows the layout of the playing arena, as well as the various sectors (I'm in Sector 5)

I have also had plenty of people ask about the daily bus trip from Malangen Brygger (where most of the arbiters are staying) to the venue each day ... here is the Google Map view of the journey, along with its estimated travel time of 1 hour & 23 minutes!

 

To finish off the post, an update on the Aussies - both teams won today, but both face tough competition in round 7, with the Open team facing Mexico (who have 3 GMs in their squad), while the Women face England (who have an IM & 2 WIMs in their squad). Best of luck to both teams!