The Olympiad Trip - Day 13

More action at table 14 for me today, this time with Canada against England. Canada had had some impressive results earlier in the competition, including draws against the USA & Israel, while England were coming off a draw against Vietnam & a loss against Armenia, so I was expecting a close match. Ultimately England prevailed 3-1, although the result was very much up in the air throughout the match. The first of the two games that stood out for the round saw Gawain Jones play a nice game against Eric Hansen, tying his pieces up before finally breaking through, while David Howell played a wild game where his opponent sacrificed a piece in the opening & threatened a repetition. David declined this & faced a strong attack, which he managed to survive, before a minor piece ending with multiple passed pawns ended in his favour when he was able to promote first.

 The matchups on table 14 today for the England v Canada clash

 Boards ready for the arrival of players

Players ready for the games to begin

Game of the Round part one - here Gawain Jones plays a nice game to score England's first point



David Howell secured the victory for England with this game of changing fortunes!

Also in the same sector today was the Australia v Mexico clash, which Australia won impressively 3.5=0.5!

 

The arbiters from Asian also received the same gift packs that the players from Asian had received the previous day, courtesy of the Asian Chess Federation

The gift pack before opening

Quite a gift pack! Inside there is a watch, wallet, USB flash drive & pen amongst other things!

 

The arbiters also received their official Arbiter polo tops today. I'll try to get some photos of them for tomorrow's blog post, but if you are at the playing arena for round 8, you should see most of the arbiters wearing them.

 

After the round, Team Kasparov hosted a party at DRIV, where the Bermuda party was held a few days before, called the Tromso Polar Fest. I found this event to be much more social, with entertainment provided by players & organisers themselves (Nigel Short, Elizabeth Paehtz & Ignatius Leong were among those who got up on stage & performed), as well as magician SAC Vasanth. They also gave away 13 Samsung Galaxy tablets & Auusie arbiter Gary Bekker was one of the lucky winners!

I'll put photos below without comments ...

 

 

For the Aussies, both teams had wins today, so they move up in both the standings & tables! The Open team now face Uzbekistan, while the Women face Serbia - both very tough matches, but the Aussies are not without a chance ... and they will definitely fight hard in their games!