World Chess Olympiad/ World Team Chess

[Prashant]

It looks like India has dropped to fifth place in the standings, and faces England, who are 6th, in the next round. Strangely they seem to be ranked by 2-1-0 instead of by game score. Although India would be 5th either way.

[prashanthm]

It looks like India has dropped to fifth place in the standings, and faces England, who are 6th, in the next round. Strangely they seem to be ranked by 2-1-0 instead of by game score. Although India would be 5th either way.

Yes, the match score is more important or considered as the main criteria in team match play tournaments.
The game score is considered a 3rd tie-break after the 2nd tie-break which is cumulative progressive score.

To me, it makes sense because it should only matter if a team won in a round or not, encouraging team play...

On a side note, the co-leaders after the 5th round - the Dutch team lost 1-3 to Latvia.....

Today, England took China to the cleaners with a facile 3-1, both wins coming from their veterans - Adams on the first board and Short on the 4th...
So, England seems to be in some good form...
Top board against Adams shouldn't be a big problem for Hari with black piece. He can definitely hold his own...
Sethu on the 4th board is in bad form...
The onus is on Adhiban and Vidit to bounce back from today's losses.....

Indian mean can still win a medal, they are not out of contention by any means....

[sameerph]

Adhiban and Vidit drew their matches after 35 anf 47 moves respectively. But, Sethu won on fourth board to take us 2-1 up. Hari is not in a good position against Adams though on top board. A loss there will tie the match. If he somehow manages a draw, we will win.

[sameerph]

Ok, Hari somehow squeezed out a draw to maintain his unbeaten record and we win 2.5-1.5.

In women, we are up 2-1 with a win by Harika and draws by Padmini and Somya on boards 2 and 3. On board 4, Pratysha's match seems to be heading for a draw. If that happens, we will get a win there too.

[sameerph]

So, our women too ended with a 2.5-1.5 win over Uzbekistan.

So, in open section, we are in second place behind USA. In Women, we are in seventh place.

Today, we have a big match against Ukraine in open section. The ratings are very close for players on either side. Hari is slightly better than Ponomariov. But, our other players are slightly lower than their Ukranian opponents. So, we are underdogs but only by a slight margin.

[sameerph]

In 9th round, our women already won. 3-0 so far against Netherlands. Fourth match is still on. Women will get closer to medal with that win and 2 rounds to go.

In open, Vidit and Adhiban drew again. Hari and Sethu still playing. Looks like those are long game more or less in equal positions. I hope one of them can squueze out a win for us here.

[sameerph]

Hari draws but it all came down to last board and this time Sethu loses which means we lose 1.5 -2.5.

Russia and US win their matches which means US, Ukraine and Russia will be in first 3 positions. We will be somewhere between 4-6 depending on how the other matches end. Still in hunt for medal but need strong performance in last 2 rounds.

In Women we have our best day with a 4-0 win over Netherlands. I think we will about 5-6th position after this. Again on the edge of a medal chance.

[sameerph]

At the end of round 9 with 14 points we are in 6th position. USA is at the top with 16 , same points as second places Ukraine. Russia with 15 is in third place followed by Georgia and Czech Republic who have same points as us.

In women we have the same 14 points but are in 5th position. China is at the top with 16 points.

Today, we play Russia in men and Ukrain in women. Both very tough teams but must win matches if we have to finish among medals.

[prashanthm]

Decent show by the Indian men against the Russian team today...

Hari is almost winning today on the top board against Karjakin.....
Adhiban is slightly worse with black against Kramnik...
Vidit and Sethu are just about equal...

Can they all hold on to make this a 2.5-1.5 win and keep their medal hopes alive....

[sameerph]

Both Vidit and Sethu already drew their matches which is good against much higher rated players.

Hari looks very good against Karjakin but now Vidit seems to be losing against Kramnik. This may end up in a tie.

[Prashant]

I was skeptical of Hari's win a few minutes ago, but he has indeed won, fantastic job Hari!

Really hoping for a draw on board 2...

[sameerph]

Yes, Hari is still unbeaten here and has had a couple of superb wins too. Looks difficult for Adhiban to get a draw here against Kramnik.

In Women, Harika and Padmini drew their matches but Somya lost on last board. On third board, Tania seems to be winning barring mistakes. So, that may end up in tie which will be good result against a higher rated team.

[Prashant]

Yes, the match score is more important or considered as the main criteria in team match play tournaments.
The game score is considered a 3rd tie-break after the 2nd tie-break which is cumulative progressive score.

To me, it makes sense because it should only matter if a team won in a round or not, encouraging team play...

I agree if you say it should be behind the match score, but why is it behind progressive? India have 1.5 points more than Czech republic, but we're behind them on the progressive. Not sure I get the point of that.

[prashanthm]

Both Vidit and Sethu already drew their matches which is good against much higher rated players.

Hari looks very good against Karjakin but now Vidit seems to be losing against Kramnik. This may end up in a tie.

Correction: highlighted player should be Adhiban...

And he indeed looks like losing to Kramnik... and they just went past the first time control. Hence, there is no chance for big blunders owing to time pressure.....

2-2 is a decent result, but 2.5-1.5 would have been great..

Great conversion by Hari, although he couldn't find all the precise moves in mutual time-trouble...

[prashanthm]

Yes, the match score is more important or considered as the main criteria in team match play tournaments.
The game score is considered a 3rd tie-break after the 2nd tie-break which is cumulative progressive score.

To me, it makes sense because it should only matter if a team won in a round or not, encouraging team play...

I agree if you say it should be behind the match score, but why is it behind progressive? India have 1.5 points more than Czech republic, but we're behind them on the progressive. Not sure I get the point of that.

Agree, progressive should be TB3...