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! 

The Olympiad Trip - Day 7

Now the routine begins ... no more first round teething problems, no more uncertainty about what to do ... its now game on & time for chess to take the priority in the Olympiad!
As an arbiter, with routine comes familiarity, so for me it was once again to table 13, which looks to be the boards I will be responsible for this tournament. Today it was Norway 3 against Germany in what looked on paper to be a one-sided match, with 4 GMs facing a young team with one of each title (1 IM, 1 GM, 1 FM & 1 CM) with a 200-300 point rating advantage on all boards. Although the result was the 4-0 German win that was expected, there were a number of hard fought games, particularly the two lower boards.

The pairings for my table today

Boards all ready for players to arrive

Teams are ready for the games to begin

At the next table the English team took on the team from Singapore (England won 3-1)

On the other side, Poland took on New Zealand (Poland won 3-1). The Kiwi's even brought some flags for the table!

The match I was supervising finished much earlier than yesterday's game, so I had some time to look around the playing hall & in particular at the Exhibition Hall

Merchandise stall & a display for the Arctic University of Norway

The Team Kasparov stall (Their motto is 'The future of chess')

The popular DGT stall

 Stalls for the 2016 Olympiad in Baku & FIDE First (Their motto is 'Onwards and Upwards')

 The Chessbase stand where they do live coverage on Playchess

 The Australian team giving the Armenians a tough fight (Armenia ended up winning 3-1)

David Smerdon fighting hard against world number 2 Levon Aronian. David eventually held Lev to a draw, which is a fantastic result!

Giang Nguyen was the last of the Aussie women playing & she held Anna Ushenina to a draw (and the team also lost 3-1 to their more highly fancied opponents)

The TV studio area, which almost floats over the playing area

In round 3, the Australians face El Salvador in the Open, while Monaco is the opposition for the Women's team. Best of luck to both teams!
The board 13 match in the Open (and my likely match) is Belarus against Israel, with both teams having all-GM lineups, with Israel headed by Boris Gelfand, with Smirin & Sutovsky also in the team, as well as having roughly 100 or more points over their Belarussian counterparts.

Also, I'll try to add a little titbit from the event ... which I will call 'Did you know?' ...
Did you know ... GM Anish Giri likes to walk around watching other boards while playing with a captured piece (usually a pawn) in one of his hands ...

To finish off, my 'Game of the Round' was between FM Lars Oskar Hague & GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu on board 3. After seeing Nisipeanu in action at the Doeberl Cup, his style just seems so simple & is a treat to watch ...