Round 7 - RP Crush Iceland

The Philippines men's team bulldozed Iceland last night 3.5 - 0.5. Iceland's Hlifar Stefansson, playing against Paragua on board 1, blundered horribly on his 21st move and walked straight into a mate in one. Antonio and Dimakiling also won against grandmaster opposition. According to the Juha Kivijärvi's website, these two currently have the highest rating performance on the RP side.

Darwin Laylo drew against GM Daniel Henriksen.

The Pinoys have a huge assignment in the next round: the might of China!

After that heartbreaking loss to Albania yesterday (with Speck checkmated), the Aussies played well today to down Luxembourg 2.5 - 1.5 points. Wohl brought home the win on board 4.

Australian Men's team (photo by Larry Ermacora)

Torino Olympiad
Weber, Jean-Marie
Wohl, Aleks
E32

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d6 7. g3 Bd7 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Bg2 Bc6 11. Nf3 a5 12. b3 Be4 13. O-O c5 14. Qe3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Qxf3 16. Bxf3 cxd4 17. Rfd1 e5 18. Bxb7 Ra7 19. Bd5 Nd7 20. e3 dxe3 21. fxe3 Rb8 22. Rab1 Kf8 23. Bc6 Ke7 24. Bxd7 Rxd7 25. Rd5 Rdb7 26. c5 dxc5 27. Rxc5 Ke6 28. Rxa5 Rxb3 29. Rxb3 Rxb3 30. e4 h5 31. Ra6+ Ke7 32. Kg2 Rb2+ 33. Kg1 Re2 34. Ra4 g5 35. h3 h4 36. gxh4 gxh4 37. Rb4 Re3 38. a4 Rxh3 39. a5 Ra3 40. Rb5 Kf6 41. Kh2 Ra4 42. Rb6+ Kg5 43. a6 f6 44. Kh3 Rxe4 45. a7 Ra4 46. Rb7 Ra3+ 47. Kh2 f5 48. Rg7+ Kf4 49. Rh7 Ra2+ 50. Kg1 Kg3 51. Rg7+ Kf3 52. Rg5 Kf4 53. Rg7 e4 54. Rh7 Kg3 55. Kf1 f4 56. Rg7+ Kf3 57. Kg1 e3 58. Rb7 Ra1+ 59. Kh2 e2 60. Re7 Rxa7 0-1

Women's team vs Vietnam (photo by Larry Ermacora)

The Aussie girls, however, suffered another 3-0 wipeout losing yesterday to the powerful Vietnamese side. Moylan lost in just 28 moves. Koshnitsky and Caoili lasted a little longer but both games were painful. Caoili probably took a hot pawn with 21. Qxe6+ for it seemed to give the Black player some tempi. The finish was nice.

Caoili - Le, after 45. Qc4

The game continued 45...Qg2+ 46. Nxg2 hxg2+ 0-1

Round 8 Pairings

Men
Qatar - Australia
China - Philippines
Costa Rica - New Zealand

Women
Australia - Kyrgyzstan
Iran - Philippines
NZ - IBCA

More details from the WZ site and the Official site. I've also added the official logo on my right-bar. Click on it and you'll see a post with essential Olympiad coverage. Robert Huntington's blog is a must-read.