It was a touch surprising to see IM David Smerdon take on the board 1 duties yesterday against 2673-rated Rustam Kasimdhanov of Uzbekistan. The Aussie did a hec of a job with his White pieces eventually reaching a draw. Australia lost the match 0.5 - 3.5 points.
Viewing the games on playchess.com last night I asked the admins why the Smerdon game wasn't relayed. One staffer came back, "because Smerdon is not a top player". Ridiculous, I thought, considering that more than half of the games that Playchess actually showed were between lower rated and unknown players! Maybe next time Playchess can improve on their attitude.
The Australian women won their match against Luxembourg 0.5 - 2.5 points. Feldman, on board 1, can be slightly disappointed with the drawn result. But these girls are doing quite well so far and we wish them well. Let's hope that there won't be too many distractions especially among the younger members of the team. Girls, unlike boys, are easily distracted after all.
As for the Philippines, the Pinoy men ended their games peacefully from boards 1 to 3. Only FM Dimakiling, against Varuzhan Akobian of the US, lost his encounter. It was a 1.5 - 2.5 finish for the USA. The Pinays outpointed Switzerland 1 - 2 points.
Round 4 pairings
Men
Denmark - Australia
Colombia - Philippines
NZ - Portugal
Women
Australia - Serbia & Montenegro
Philippines - Kazakhstan
NZ - Guatemala
More detailed coverage, at Wiener Zeitung's site.
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1 comment:
I hope you were joking when you said that girls are more easly distracted than boys !?!?
Matthew Sweeney
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