Olympiad Update

The Olympiad has been tough for the Virgin Island team. They've mostly been heavily out-rated and it shows in the results, as they've been blanked in all four rounds in which they played. They received a bye today. (An odd number of teams means someone has to out each round, and that usually falls to the lowest scoring team that hasn't had a bye previously.) Tomorrow they will face Liechtenstein, and once again they will be out-rated on most boards. Jim will likely face Marcel Mannhart (2128 FIDE).

Jim HAS had some good games, though, despite the results. Paull Leggett has been posting the games to Facebook. As Paul wrote about Jim's fourth round game:

He equalized easily, and the game stayed even for a very long time. After a protracted defense (just playing through it is draining), it ends with a painful and undeserved loss, much in the way Karpov started losing to Kasparov. It is a very valuable study piece, even if the story has an unhappy ending.

Clock management issues (especially in Game Three, according to a note by Jim) seem to be the biggest problem at this point. Hopefully, during the next round it will got better!

Game Two link

Game Three link

Game Four link

It should be noted that Jim appears to be having a good time regardless. He posted a bunch of pictures he's taken around Baku on his Facebook feed. He may even be at the Bermuda Party as we speak!