FIDE Online Olympiad Aug 13-Sep 15

[HAHAHAHA]

This sums it up exactly. If the board in question in our game with Philippines result was reversed, we would've drawn the match and thus not taken the significant risk to consider every match from then on a 'must-win' situation.

Team captains were told during the technical meeting at the beginning of the tournament that they were responsible for their teams playing fairly and we were all notified from day dot that if one member was found to have broken fair play rules, the entire team would be penalised, like in any team sport.

Thanks Jack for organizing and captaining the Aussie team.
The fact that cheating was pre-empted and consequences detailed at the tech meeting makes an appeal a mute point, as has already been said.
Philippines cheated so as per the rules they are disqualified. But on a moral note sympathy to the rest of the team that played fairly.

[HAHAHAHA]

Of course.

awesome, looking forward to it. Forget Norway chess24 commentary. Degen is where its at

[JackRodgers]

The first result is in for Australia vs. China, Temur has drawn with GM Wei Yi! A great result but to say I'm surprised would be a lie, Temur is all class this tournament.

[ER]

... the entire team would be penalised, like in any team sport.

For clarification purposes. Any examples of such team sports and countries involved?

Russia of course wasn't penalised for any specific "team" sport illegal activities but for 'running a state-sponsored doping program'

FIDE has already used a draconian whole country banning rule in cases other than cheating. (Bulgaria for financial discrepancies (?) and Mongolia for not paying money owed to an international trainer).

Having said that I am 100% for whole squad banning if one or more of their players are caught cheating without reasonable doubt in online or OTB team events.

[JackRodgers]

For clarification purposes. Any examples of such team sports and countries involved?

Russia of course wasn't penalised for any "team" sport illegal activities but for 'running a state-sponsored doping program'

FIDE has already used a draconian whole country banning rule in cases other than cheating. (Bulgaria for financial discrepancies (?) and Mongolia for not paying money owed to an international trainer).

Having said that I am 100% for whole squad banning if one or more players are caught cheating without reasonable doubt in online team events.

In Olympic events, say a 4x100 metre relay or team cycling event, if one player was found to be using steroids or other performance enhancers, the entire team gets stripped of their medal. Personally I see the Olympiad as chess' version of the Olympics hence why I've drawn a comparison to that.

[Kevin Bonham]

That was a great effort by Australia but China just too good when the clocks got low. 0.5-5.5 doesn't reflect what a fight we gave them there; there were a few games we were objectively winning.

[JackRodgers]

Australia goes down to China 5.5 -.5.

Up against a Chinese team fielding the likes of GM Wei Yi, GM Yu Yangi, and women's world championship GM Ju Wenjun, any points here would be considered a good result. Temur was the only Aussie player to manage a draw however each of our other players had drawish or even better positions (Albert Winkelman and Jody Middleton) before a strong Chinese team outplayed us under time pressure. Outblitzed! Next up is Greece.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.09.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "KuybokarovTemur"]
[Black "LOVEVAE"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2537"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]
[EndTime "1:22:48 PDT"]
[Termination "Game drawn by repetition"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qb6 8.
Bb3 e6 9. a4 Qa5 10. Qd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. f4 Nd7 13. f5 Nc5 14. O-O-O Bd7
15. Kb1 O-O-O 16. Rhf1 Kb8 17. fxe6 fxe6 18. Qe3 Be7 19. Qg3 Bf6 20. Qxd6+ Qc7
21. Qxc7+ Kxc7 22. a5 Bc8 23. Nde2 b5 24. axb6+ Kxb6 25. Na4+ Nxa4 26. Bxa4 Bb7
27. Nf4 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Rd8 29. Rxd8 Bxd8 30. Nxe6 Bf6 31. Nf4 Bxe4 32. g3 g5 33.
Nd3 Bd4 34. Kc1 Bg1 35. h4 gxh4 36. gxh4 Bxd3 37. cxd3 h5 38. Bd1 Bf2 39. Kc2
Bxh4 40. Bxh5 Kc5 41. Bf7 Bf6 42. Bc4 a5 43. Kb3 a4+ 44. Kxa4 Bxb2 45. Kb3 Ba1
46. Ka2 Bc3 47. Kb3 Ba1 48. Ka2 Bc3 49. Kb3 Ba1 1/2-1/2

[ER]

Australia goes down to China 5.5 -.5.

Up against a Chinese team fielding the likes of GM Wei Yi, GM Yu Yangi, and women's world championship GM Ju Wenjun, any points here would be considered a good result. Temur was the only Aussie player to manage a draw however each of our other players had drawish or even better positions (Albert Winkelman and Jody Middleton) before a strong Chinese team outplayed us under time pressure. Outblitzed! Next up is Greece.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.09.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "KuybokarovTemur"]
[Black "LOVEVAE"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2537"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]
[EndTime "1:22:48 PDT"]
[Termination "Game drawn by repetition"]

PGN Viewer

  1/2-1/2

[JackRodgers]

In round 2 we came up against Greece and unfortunately went down 4-2 but fought hard on all boards.

Albert Winkelman was the standout of the round on board 5, winning against International Master Evgenios Ioannidis with the black pieces! Temur again held strong on board one against Grandmaster Dimitrios Mastrovilis with the black pieces and Chao Xin was very fortunate to get a draw on board 6 in an objectively lost position, after threefold repetition was reached while on low time.

Elliot I'm not entirely sure how to post the game interface as you did, flick me a PM when you get the chance so I can do this . I'll post the PGN of Albert's game below...

Next up we play Iran.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.09.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "IM Nuvas"]
[Black "FM Albert Winkelman"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2373"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]
[EndTime "2:42:11 PDT"]
[Termination "Hot_Sponge won by resignation"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2
Nc6 9. Nf3 Na5 10. b3 c5 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7 13. Nd5 Nc6 14. O-O Nxd5 15.
exd5 Nb4 16. Bf3 Nxa2 17. Rc4 a5 18. Qd2 Nb4 19. Rfc1 Be8 20. Bh6 Bxh6 21. Qxh6
Qd6 22. Nc6 f5 23. Nxb4 axb4 24. Rh4 Rf7 25. g3 Bd7 26. Rcc4 Rg7 27. Rxb4 b5 28.
Kg2 Ra2 29. Rbd4 Qc5 30. Rd2 Ra3 31. Rd3 Ra2 32. Qe3 Qxe3 33. Rxe3 Rd2 34. Rb4
g5 35. Re2 Rd3 36. Re5 Rd2 37. Be2 Rg6 38. Rxe7 Rxd5 39. Bf3 Rdd6 40. g4 f4 41.
Be4 Rg7 42. Re5 h6 43. Bd5+ Kf8 44. f3 Re7 45. Rbe4 Rxe5 46. Rxe5 b4 47. Kf2 Ra6
48. Ke2 Bb5+ 49. Kd2 Ra2+ 50. Kc1 Rxh2 51. Be4 Bd7 52. Bd5 Rf2 53. Kd1 Be8 54.
Ke1 Rb2 55. Rf5+ Ke7 56. Kd1 Bd7 57. Rf7+ Kd6 58. Bc4 Bc6 59. Rf6+ Kc5 60. Rxh6
Bxf3+ 61. Kc1 Rg2 0-1

[JackRodgers]

For those interested in watching events unfold live with commentary. IM James Morris, FM Jack Puccini and Frank Lekkas are on Twitch streaming live at the following link:

https://m.twitch.tv/degenchess

[JackRodgers]

Australia was downed 5.5-.5 by Iran in Round 3, with GM Zong Yuan Zhao the sole player to pick up a half-point with a short draw against GM Ehsan Gaem-Maghami who notably, holds the record for the most games played in a simultaneous exhibition (604 with a 97% win rate). Temur was unlucky not to draw with world-cup 4th round hero GM Pouya Idani, missing a draw at the death in a game that had the eval bar swinging.

PGN Viewer

 

Tomorrow Australia faces Georgia, Romania, and Armenia, the former of the two being two of our closest matchups in terms of average ratings.

See you then!

[Desmond]

Well done aussies, it was always going to be a tough ask.

... GM Ehsan Gaem-Maghami who notably, holds the record for the most games played in a simultaneous exhibition (604 with a 97% win rate).

Just wow! From wiki:

... on 9 February 2011 to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.

Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, then 28 years old, won 97.35 percent of his games which began on 2011/02/08 in Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game.[5]

Of the total 604 games, Ghaem-Maghami won 580, lost 8 and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34 mi) as he moved from opponent to opponent. "I am so happy to break the record" a victorious yet exhausted Ehsan remarked, adding "... ,but now I have to break my sleep record". Reportedly, a physician, a masseur and a dietician were monitoring him throughout the match.

[JackRodgers]

Australia Wins!

Australia upset Georgia in Round 4 fielding a team including 4 out of 6 of our 'reserve' players. Everyone played exceptionally and we were unlucky not to win 5-1, with Albert Winkelman coming within a whisker of the game of the tournament so far.

Australia 4 - Georgia 2

0 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2621 - GM Ly, Moulthun 2502 1
1 IM Petriashvili, Nikoloz - FM Chan, Luis 0
0 IM Lomineishvili, Maia - WGM Zhang, Jilin 2246 1
0 IM Purtseladze, Maka 2229 - WFM Nguyen, Thu Giang 2119 1
1 IM Kacharava, Nikolozi 2036 - FM Winkelman, Albert 2257 0
0 Pipia, Ekaterine 1734 - Cheng, Chao Xin 1440 1

Next up is Romania, another team of similar standard to Georgia.

[JackRodgers]

Rd. 5 Australia went down by the narrowest of margins to Romania, losing 3.5-2.5. Temur played a very nice game on Board One to topple GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac with the white pieces. Jilin was the other winner, where she won with black for the second round in a row! Albert managed to hold for a draw with extremely solid defence in the middle/endgame.

Australia 2.5 - Romania 3.5

1 GM Kuybokarov, Temur 2134 - GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 2556 0
0 FM Chan, Luis 1777 - GM Miron, Lucian-Costin 2479 1
0 WGM Ryjanova, Julia 2242 - IM Peptan, Corina-Isabela 2355 1
1 WGM Zhang, Jilin 2246 - WFM Nastase, Andreea-Cristina 1893 0
.5 FM Winkelman, Albert 2257 - FM Stoleriu, George 2143 .5
0 Middleton, Jody 1850 - WFM Ciolacu, Alessia-Mihaela 1884 1

In round 6 we play an Armenian team desperate for the win. Let's go Australia!

[JackRodgers]

Australia holds Armenia to a 3-3 tie!

A big result here for Australia, holding the world's #7 country (by average top 10 ratings) to a tie effectively ending Armenia's chances of quarter-final qualification. GM Zong Yuan Zhao was in no mood to mess around on Board 2 against GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan, winning in exactly 30 moves out of a dynamic London system. WGM Julia Ryjanova picked up her first win on a very tough women's Board 1 spot, knocking over experienced GM Elina Danielian with the black pieces. WFM Mai Chi Phan also played an impressive endgame, exchanging knight for bishop into a slightly better rook endgame which she managed to convert with good king activity.

I will post Zong Yuan Zhao's game here in the morning...

Australia 3 - Armenia 3

1 GM Hovhannisyan, Robert 2556 - GM Kuybokarov, Temur 2134 0
0 GM Gabuzyan, Hovhannes 2521 - GM Zhao, Zong-Yuan 2525 1
0 GM Danielian, Elina 2358 - WGM Ryjanova, Julia 2242 1
0 WIM Gaboyan, Susanna 2083 - WFM Phan, Nguyen Mai Chi 2139 1
1 IM Gharibyan, Mamikon 2382 - Asaka, Samuel 2254 0
1 WFM Mkrtchyan, Mariam 2005 - Cheng, Chao Xin 1440 0

Some great results today and looking forward to finishing on a high tomorrow against Kazakhstan (the current leaders), Mongolia and the Indonesia rematch in Round 9.