Round 1

Playing order today is :
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Wales v Netherlands
Bd 1. FM Richard S Jones (2321)- GM Jan Smeets (2642)....... 0-1
Bd 2. FM Ioan Rees (2336)......- GM Daniel Stellwagen (2630).0-1
Bd 3. Richard Dineley (2270)...- GM Erwin L'ami (2606).......0-1
Bd 4. Tim Kett (2238)..........- GM Jan Werle (2563).........0-1
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Games here

Report from Tim Kett

It all seemed OK for a while against the Orangemen as well. As Alan B commented from the sidelines at his first appearance for Wales ..."I thought that top GM's like these guys would be (threatening to) blow you away in the opening .... but in fact it was notable how relaxed they were just to let the games take their course and win them later on".

Richard J reeled off 15 moves or so on the W side of a Ruy Lopez and casual glance might have led you to think he had the advantage with Black's isolated d-pawn. But Smeets soon showed that flexible, active pieces are much more important.

Ioan told us on the plane that he was going to play the French Defence for the first time in his life here. He said he was happy with all his prep except for one dangerous line in which White sacs his b-pawn in return for the initiative and potential K-side storm. Mr Stellwagen must have read his mind.

Richard D got the prize for lasting longest in another Ruy Lopez but after duffing an exchange around move 30 was finally ground down in what was still a fairly blocked position.

I was fine for about 20 moves defending a QGD but somehow the game just became slightly unbalanced and once he got his passed pawn on d5 and I couldn't move mine on c5 the end was fairly inevitable.

Oh well. Of course we're disappointed not have got something but morale and determination will stay high - have no doubt about that and whatever battering we get from the big boys in the first few rounds we'll still be fighting when it comes to the key matches against our fellow-strugglers.

The big mystery right now is .... where is Topalov ? Is he here or not ? If he is he's clearly too scared to come out and play Richard this afternoon ! Joking aside thats obviously a shame. Welshman beats World's No.1 rated player could have been a top headline tomorrow !!

Other news...

England drop a point to Monaco as Luke McShane loses with White to Efimov (200 points+ below him) after the wimpiest anti-Sicilian line we've seen in ages !

In contrast Scotland's 2300 board 1 almost beat a 2600

Russia and Ukraine had disastrous first rounds. Russia (contrary to widespread public belief) have been rubbish at these events lately - they haven't won an Olympiad or Euro Teams since 2003 !

Morozevich had to bail them out with a tricky late win to save a 2-2 draw vs Croatia while Ukraine went down to Korchnoi-led Switzerland (who we so nearly upset at the last Olympiad). The Armenians and Azerbaijanies headed for the bus chortling with barely disguised glee.

Bulgaria also went down to a shock defeat after an instructive endgame loss by Cheparinov against a recently resurgent Italy led by schoolboy Fabio Caruana. Their reward is of course a 2nd round fixture with us.

Tim