45th Chess Olympiad R02: Norway struggles without Carlsen, top teams lose board points

Thursday, 12 Sep 2024 20:28

As the Chess Olympiad progresses, the matches become tougher. In the second round, the favorites still faced weaker teams, but the rating differences are narrowing. This led to many teams conceding more individual points and some even not winning their matches.

Canada, seeded 50th, delivered an upset by drawing 2-2 with tournament’s #6 Norway. Former U18 World Champion Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (2509) won one of the longest games of the round against Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2661) on board one. The absence of team leader Magnus Carlsen negatively impacted Norway, despite them being approximately 100 rating points favorites on each board.

Ireland (#64) surprisingly drew with Israel (#20), Estonia (#60) split points with Serbia (#16), Mongolia (#63) drew with the Czech Republic (#19), and Venezuela (#67) tied their match with Greece (#23).

China lost its first individual points but defeated Chile. World Champion Ding Liren drew on the first board against Cristobal Henriquez Villagra. Uzbekistan also conceded half a point to Egypt when Hamed Wafa (2368) managed to draw against Javokhir Sindarov (2677). The Netherlands narrowly won against Belgium with two draws on the lower boards, but were never at risk of losing the match, winning 2.5-1.5.

Despite winning two matches, team USA has not yet found its best form. Fabiano Caruana scored the first win against Singapore in Round 2 but expressed concern about his teammates during the match: “At the moment, Levon is struggling. His game today is very dangerous for him, and we can’t really afford to lose a game. We’re playing a solid team, and they are probably going to make two draws with the white pieces.” His worries were in vain, though, as the team eventually won the match 4-0. India has also left no chances for their opponents so far, winning their second match 4-0, this time against Iceland.

In the women’s section, Nikolina Koljevic (2030) from Montenegro delivered an upset to Salome Melia (2293), but Georgia, one of the tournament’s favorites, still won the match 3-1. “Some teams come here to have fun and meet friends, but for us, it’s always a fight for medals,” commented Nino Batsiashvili. “Any medal is good, but we’re striving for gold. We were so close last time!”

Defending champions Ukraine had a surprisingly tough match against Lithuania as top board Yuliia Osmak (2471) lost to Olena Martynkova (2176) and the last board Evgeniya Doluhanova (2304) drew against Gabija Simkunaite (2005). The two middle boards won their games, securing a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory for Ukraine. Poland and China won their matches convincingly, 4-0.

Position of the day:

Andres Rodriguez Vila (Uruguay, 2417) - Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2635)

Black to move