A good day for Swedish team in the Open, as we won 3,5-0,5 against South Africa. The women’s team were on their way to 2-2, with Inna winning her 4:th game in a row, but in the end they lost the match 2,5-1,5.
Inna’s game was an epic turn-around, and you can watch it here. My game was the most entertaining I have played in weeks:
Tomorrow we play against the Phillipines. Now I will take a walk around the compound to see if can find some interesting insects. Hopefully take some pictures too…
Both Axel Smith, Ludvig Carlsson and Martin Jogstad had a terrible run at some stage in the tournament, but also produced some quite good games along the way. I have not had the energy to comment a game of each and every one of them, but I believe Ludvig deserves praise for his second round win against Axel:
It was not Axel’s best game, but I still find it impressive that Ludvig stayed in the drivers seat for the whole game and made it to the finish. Axel is really, really well prepared in some such passive positions, and equally strong:
From my perspective, a very impressive game. I would not have held a draw from that position; not in ten games against an opponent of such strength.
On a scale from “a day to remember”, to “a day to forget”, the Swedish team was having the latter kind. There is nothing redeeming to say about our 0-4 loss against the Netherlands, so the forgetting starts now.
The Swedish Women’s team had a great day, and beat Spain with 3-1, with both Inna Agrest and Victoria Johansson winning against opponents who were much higher rated. Inna outplayed her opponent and Victoria held on in a slightly worse position and took her chance when she got it:
The top matches in the open section saw a few upsets, with Norway losing to Italy, and Germany losing to Austria. Azerbaijan won a comfortable victor against Argentina, and Mamedyarov produced a spectacular game on board 1:
Today we played against Tunisia, and won the match with the smallest possible margin. One board 2. Erik Blomqvist played a game that contained a very nice and strange opening idea:
There is – as usual – a bit of betting going on between the Nordic team captains. As far as we know, no one has placed a bet against the Norwegians (who are rated third). I believe the Danes’ odds went down somewhat today, as they lost against Zambia (who were heavily out-ranked on every board), but I would not count them out of the race because of a small bump in the road. Sometimes losing an early match like that can inspire focus and determination. I will keep an eye on Zambia ahead. They seemed to play quite well.
Tomorrow Sweden play against Holland in the main hall. Another great adventure.