2002 Olympiad Report

(click on opposing team names to navigate)

Due to our 3-0 win over IBCA we have now bounced up into the stronger teams. Debbie took another WIM scalp for the team. Her win was neatly summarised as follows: "This was an unorthodox opening which served its purpose of leading the opponent into a false sense of security! I like the game for its unconventional back street fighting style".

High hopes of a big win for Wales today were realised with straightforward 3-0 victory. By now the bulletins were available, and even contained some games. It was clear that all the Nigerians tended to prefer quiet openings, which helped us with our preparations for this match, and even decisions during the games. Annie missed a couple of tactical shots but still ground down her opponent in the endgame. Kathy made full use of her opponent's positional concessions and won easily, and Suzie completed the rout not withstanding a very liberal interpretation of the touchmove by her opponent (to avoid mate-in-1!). A heated debate ensued between the Welsh captain and the arbiter, who had not been present, but this was brought to an end by Suzie as she was winning in any case.

A strong Filipino side. Kathy endured the worse side of a double rook and pawn endgame, her king having to tread a very fine line between going active and getting mated, before finally securing a ½ point. Debbie had a wild game, with the advantage changing hands frequently as time pressure took over - unfortunately Debbie made the last mistake. Annie misplayed the opening and went down quickly to her opponent's closed sicilian.

An unknown quantity faced Wales today,3 young unrated South Africians who had been scoring well in the previous rounds. The result could have been worse: Debbie's opponent let her off the hook with an endgame blunder after being comfortably winning for most of the game. Annie, by contrast, had a tactical game with lots of winning opportunities. Unfortunately Annie overpressed when a simple win was available, and her opponent took advantage of this to draw. Kathy's game completed a poor round, as she underestimated the speed of her opponent's passed pawn.

Today we played a very experienced Austrian team and their experience eventually told. Ironically Kathy drew with the French Exchange, an opening she had played with an identical outcome against Austria in Novi Sad (1990). Her opponent remarked after the game that this was the only game they had to prepare with as there were a lack of games in the database (Possibly due to having given up for 9 years!) and Kathy having played a multitude of blacks going into this round. Suzie did well to survive an early Kingside assault by her highly-rated opponent, however she came off worse in the tactics that followed. Debbie never found safe ground for her king, and was punished with some effective play.

Another win for Suzie as white, she seems unbeatable when she moves first! She won the exchange in the opening and never looked back. Debbie steered her way skillfully through a tactical middlegame and converted her advantage into a mating attack. Annie won a pawn, but with all the remaining pawns on one side, a draw was the final result. A comfortable win for the team.

The draw has settled down, and we are paired against Italy, a team of similar strength. Debbie attempted to trap her opponent's queen, but ended up worse after her opponent sacrificed the exchange to escape. The opposite-coloured bishop endgame was no salvation. Annie played a temporary pawn sac to gain the initiative which she maintained through into the endgame wih a powerful queenside pawn majority. Kathy had a typical Kings Indian game with black busted on the queenside but mating white on the kingside, making this our second consecutive win.

Our victories in the previous two rounds have earned us a pairing with a strong Canadian team, who have come down after a defeat on the higher boards. We didn't quite manage to inflict another 3-0 drubbing as they had suffered in the previous round when they lost to the English ladies. However we did put up a respectable performance to share the honours with them after they decided to rest their top board. Kathy's opponent refused a draw offer in an equal position, then made too many concessions in attempting to win, which Kathy needed no second invitation to exploit. Debbie got into trouble when she lost control of the dark squares, while Annie missed a chance to win the exchange, after which the game petered out to a drawish ending.

The final round saw us facing a strong young Peruvian team who we needed to take some points off to have any hope of a medal in our category. Debbie had just come off an exhausting run of 8 games in a row so 2, 3 and 4 played. It was a pressure game for Suzie as a draw would gain her a FIDE rating. Unfortunately she was up against Calle who was scoring very highly for Peru and finished on 9/14, narrowly missing out on a board prize. Kathy sacrificed a pawn early on for active play and eventually broke through her opponents defence. They're still arguing whether it was sound! Annie won a pawn early on, but her own pawns proved too weak in the endgame to keep the advantage.