2014 Chess Olympiad (Tromsø)

Norway II is ahead of Norway I, and many quite low rated teams are very high but that will surely soon change, for example Kazakhstan has not played any of the 20 top ranked teams yet.

Yeah, USA team is having an off Olympiad. No offense to Canada but USA should have been able to win that match. Paraguay next round I think, get a nice bounce back and win that one team USA!

Paraguay? They have a chess team? Come on Paraguay!!

Aronian is never going to win against Carlsen in classical chess again

Yes, after Topalov's effort yesterday, Vlad really trumped him! Smashing win.

Great exchange sac.

Yeah, it's not like he's Nakamura or anything.

Tomorrow is a rest day? The U.S. needs it along with a few others that have had outrageous results. Norway's top team is one spot behind at #38. I think Russia (in 8th) will do much better after the rest day, spring boarded by Kramniks good play today. It will give him added motivation too, I believe.

I think they have more teams there than ever before. The best tournament I ever went to in terms of fun was a team tournament. It has got to be absolutely awesome being there playing with teams from all across the planet.

↑ this! :)

Yup. I'd be happy to lose all my games, just for the chance to be there.

Of course... if I lost all my games, our federation might not send me to the NEXT olympiad.

Do you think Norway one has done bad? Norway one has two full time players, one great chessteacher and two amateurs, and board four is not as strong as the big teams board four. I think they have done quite well.

Norway two is interesting. I think they have more active players. One great teacher, IM Ringdal-Hanssen, one x Norwegian champion; IM Frode Elsness and three young rising stars, Johan Salomon, IM Aryan Tari and IM Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal.

Norway 2 has one point more than Norway 1, and I wonder what happens if the meet for a game. N1 is favourites, our best guys, rated higher, but N2 is a lot stronger than their modest rating. The kids at N2 are accumulating strenght every game they play, and will probably become stronger players as the tournament goes along.

I recon N2 is a lot stonger now , compared to the day the teams were picked.

Norway-1's problem is that Carlsen is playing a bad tennis at this tournament.

Even worse, he is playing a despicable chess.

Yeah, Carlsen has scored two wins as white and two draws with the black pieces, of which the latest one was achieved against world No. 2 Levon Aronian. Who does he think he is?

Make yourself eligible for one of the weaker countries and losing all your games migt not be an issue! Going by your on-line rating you might even win a few. Remember- the pairings are worked out on a swiss system but with scores for teams not individuals. That means that the team can do very badly but an individual in that team can get a very good score as they only play relatively or very weak opposition. It's possible to get an board medal that way- it's happened!

I do not agree. Problem one, they meet good players. Problem two: Board 4 is occupied of players that plays less chess than a lot of their opponents.

The youth at N2 are much more active. Johan Salomon has been travelling all over Europe and played as many tournament as possible. Aryan Tari is the guy in Norway who plays most chesscompetitions. Frode Urkedal plays a lot. Those kids/young men are a lot hotter than board four on N1, but they were not selected, because they are rated below, or maybe they play a bit to offensive? Johan has only ca 2350 in rating an no titles.

Frode Urkedal became Norwegian Champion, but that was after the teams were selected. I wanted him on team one, but he might get more fun at team two, because he got board one there, and meets some of the strongest GM,s in the world.

China did not send Bu...BuWho?! 

Every child knows that Aronian is badly overrated ( and some of the adults also know that ). Aronian achieves his rating in dark rooms at tournaments where there is no real stake and no one watches him. It is known that he buckles under pressure when it comes to fighting for something, like a world championship match candidacy or representing his country. He buckles under pressure like a buckle.

dejvidd wrote:

China did not send Bu...BuWho?! 

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They didn't send Wang Hao either. Their pre tournament ranking could have been #3 or #4. Somebody else can look at the math, I'm just estimating.

"I think Russia (in 8th) will do much better after the rest day, spring boarded by Kramniks good play today. It will give him added motivation too, I believe"

Still hard to say how well Russia is doing, their setup this far has been to have Kramnik as white as much as possible, but that results in tougher games for Grischuk, who has had black in all his games this far. Uzbekistan should be an easy win in the next round, it will be the two-three matches after that one that will show if Russia finally is ready for that gold. The draws against China and Bulgaria were not particularly impressive, both Kramnik and Grischuk saved lost positions against China and might need to play better to get the gold.