Saturday, October 23, 2010

Important Olympiad positions

The following position is from FM Smith 2282 - GM Ragger 2628
Smith has currently outplayed his much higher opponent to reach this position, the game ended in a draw but how can white now increase his advantage here to almost ensure the full point?
It must be noted in 2001 GM Ragger was a 2104 rated Junior. Not bad improvement



Sunday, October 3, 2010

Olympiad 2010 Final Standings

Open

Gold Ukraine 19

Silver Russia 1 18

Bronze Israel 17

55. Australia(49) 12

91. New Zealand (92) 10

143. Papau New Guinea (117) 6

Women

Gold Russia 1 22

Silver China 18

Bronze Georgia 16

46. Australia (53) 12

82. New Zealand (72) 9

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Olympiad 2010 Final Round Eleven

Open
Board 39


88 United Arab Emirates (UAE) - 92 New Zealand (NZL) 2 1/2 - 1 1/2

GM Salem A R Saleh 2501 - FM Smith Robert W 2282 1-0

FMA lHuwar Jasem 2265 - FM Steadman Michael 2309 1-0

Omar Noaman Ali Ali 2220 - FM Croad Nicolas 2297 1/2-1/2

FM Abdulwahab Marwan 2089 - Han Daniel 2200 0-1


Women
Board 38


72 New Zealand (NZL) - 77 Guatemala (GUA) 1-3

WFM Milligan Helen 2033 - WIM Mazariego-K Carolina 2086 0-1

WIM Maroroa Sue 1981 - Mencos Claudia 1912 1/2-1/2

WCM Chen Eachen 1966 - Figueroa Julissa 1792 0-1

WFM Fairley Natasha 1777 - Sotomayor Villatoro Silvia 1777 1/2-1/2

Friday, October 1, 2010

Olympiad 2010 Round Ten Standings


Open Standings


1. Ukraine 18

2. Russia 1 17

3. Israel 16

4. Poland 15

5. Hungary 15

6. Armenia 15

7. Spain 15

8. France 15

68. Australia (49) 10

78. New Zealand (92) 10

145. Papau New Guinea (117) 4


Ukraine has all but wrapped up the gold needing only a drawn match against Israel in the final round, although I'm not sure on the tiebreak system used if Russia 1 was to win over Spain in their last round encounter.

The New Zealand Open team has performed excellently but faces a tough task in the last round to keep a positive result on the final crosstable facing a higher ranked UAE. FM Robert Smith has had some good results on board one chiefly a draw against 2628 rated GM Ragger Markus and a win over 2394 IM Solomon Kenny. FM Michael Steadman has performed excellently beating higher rated IM Kobese Watu 2370 and a draw against GM John Shaw rated 2446. FM Nic Croad struggled in the first rounds but had a good win over Scotland's IM Burns-Mannion Stephen R 2372. Daniel Han has performed the worse but had a good win over Iraq's IM Noah A. H. Al-Ali 2397. The Open team's best match results must be beating Ireland (75) and drawing with Iraq (76) and South Africa (81).


Women Standings


1. Russia 1 20

2. China 16

3. Ukraine 15

4. Georgia 15

5. Russia 2 15

6. Poland 15

36. Australia (53) 12

72. New Zealand (72) 9


So Russia 1 have guaranteed themselves gold with a dominating performance.
The New Zealand Women's team have not performed as well as their last olympiad but currently look set to finish higher than their rank of 72, playing 77 ranked Guatemala in the final round. The two best performers have clearly been WIM Sue Maroroa and WFM Natasha Fairley. Sue drawing with WGM Kaps Darja rated 2300 is her best result. WFM Helen Milligan has had a tough task on board one playing many players abover her rating. WCM Eachen Chen has had mixed results but had a good win over WFM Ovezova Maisa 2117. The teams best results are a draw over Turkmenistan (44) and win against Egypt (73) and a close call against the much higher rated Australia(53) losing only by half a point.