The Week in Chess

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 2 started at 2pm local time on Wednesday 29th August. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Sorry for the lack of updates this afternoon. Been working on the round 1 games. Men's and women's both done. Added top 20 matches from the round 2 Men's section now.

Men's Pairings: QAT 0-4 UKR, USA 3.5-0.5 LTU, AZE3.5-0.5 IRL, PER 0.5-3.5 FRA, IND 3-1 TUR16, CUB 3.5-0.5 ICSC, CRC 0-4 POL, GRE 1-3 RUS, CHN 3.5-0.5 ITA, ENG 2.5-1.5 BRA, GER 2.5-1.5 GEO, TUR 2-2 CZE, ESP 2.5-1.5 BLR, UZB 2-2 CRO, SRB 2-2 SWE. The main stories of the day were that Ukraine won 3-1 against Qatar but Vassily Ivanchuk blundered to lose on top board which could be important for the rest of the event. The USA battered Lithuania 3.5-0.5 with Nakamura grinding out a marathon win against Malisauskas on top board. Azerbaijan, India, France, Cuba, Poland all won. Russia already down the standings beat Greece only 3-1. I'm not sure Karjakin impressed anyone with his extremely short draw with black against a player he outrated by over 160 points. Indeed I don't think this draw with black, win with white approach will be enough to get them gold. China smashed Italy 3.5-0.5 with even their star Fabiano Caruana getting beaten on top board. England beat Brazil thanks to a win for Short over Fier. A Naiditsch win for Germany and Illescas win for Spain got them narrow victories today. I'll see if I can get some games at some point.