15-11-2015, 01:32 AM
A minute's silence was observed before today's round after the tragic events in Paris the previous evening. The French team decided to play -against Armenia on top board - and came away with a narrow victory after Vachier-Lagrave beat Aronian in the last game of the day to finish.
It was another tough day for the Scots here in Reykjavik as we faced a strong Slovenian GM quartet.
My debut game for my country was somewhat less-than-successful when I took some strategic liberties and was soundly punished for my impudence.
Steve had a tough time against the ex-candidate Alexander Belyiavsky on top board, and although both Graham and Alan had good positions for most of their games, it was an unfortunate repeat of yesterday, leaving us languishing on 0/8 and facing the Latvian 13th seeds tomorrow, quite possibly sporting Alexei Shirov on board 1.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen put in an appearance today to watch his team-mates grind out a win, and Nigel Short spent some of his rest-day in the commentary booth while his team had a steady 4-draws draw.
We're hoping for better things tomorrow as a team, and confidence is still high despite the difficult start; the difference between this tournament and something like the Olympiad being that there are no 'easy' matches to get ourselves going with, but hopefully we can start to take our chances when they appear.
It was another tough day for the Scots here in Reykjavik as we faced a strong Slovenian GM quartet.
My debut game for my country was somewhat less-than-successful when I took some strategic liberties and was soundly punished for my impudence.
Steve had a tough time against the ex-candidate Alexander Belyiavsky on top board, and although both Graham and Alan had good positions for most of their games, it was an unfortunate repeat of yesterday, leaving us languishing on 0/8 and facing the Latvian 13th seeds tomorrow, quite possibly sporting Alexei Shirov on board 1.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen put in an appearance today to watch his team-mates grind out a win, and Nigel Short spent some of his rest-day in the commentary booth while his team had a steady 4-draws draw.
We're hoping for better things tomorrow as a team, and confidence is still high despite the difficult start; the difference between this tournament and something like the Olympiad being that there are no 'easy' matches to get ourselves going with, but hopefully we can start to take our chances when they appear.