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An update from the tournament hall here in Radebeul...
The team are sitting on 50% after 4 rounds, having played 4 teams higher (3 of them much-higher) in the seedings!
Today saw a 2-2 draw with the Austrian team, having also drawn 2-2 with England 3 yesterday. The opening round's win was balanced by a close loss (2.5-1.5) to England 2 in round 2.
The pairings are out for round 5 tomorrow and we will face Sweden, who average 2100 rating, but could be a good chance for Scotland to take something again.
I have been allowed to play in this evening's blitz tournament, so have decided to turn my quick moral support visit into a 2-night stay!
The hotel is top-notch according to the team and the event seems to be organised very well, although there are a lot of teams and players to accommodate in the playing hall.
Further updates from the official website on the main CS homepage link.
Andy Burnett
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Round 8 pairing
England- Iceland
What could possibly go wrong ?
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England 2.5 Iceland 1.5.
Next opponents for Iceland are .....
Scotland
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Let's give a big shout out to the Scotland team (Phil Giulian, David Findlay, Rosie Giulian and Richard Jennings) who have played a blinder in the over50s event. Despite playing against higher graded opponents every round, they are unbeaten since the second round with 3 won matches, 4 drawn matches and just one loss. So they are assured of a top half finish after being seeded 43rd out of 57 teams.
Their reward for their excellent performance is a final round draw against top rated team Iceland ( who have 5 players, all GMs) tomorrow. They could not emulate their footballers and lost today to England 1. A very tough ask for the Scots but it does give us the possible prospect of Richard Jennings vs ageing chess legend Fridrik Olafsson.
Good luck guys, and whatever the result you will have done Scotland proud!
By the way, our old friend IM Jan Rooze is leading Belgium from the front in the over 65s and is currently on 7/8 so is well placed to capture the top board prize there. Even more impressive is the fact that he is recovering from a recent stroke! He has made an amazing recovery.
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That final Iceland-Scotland tie is indeed a peach. No scores yet at the web-site, unfortunately too no live games ... and I don't think these are available anywhere. Alastair's sentiments about a clear above par result in the event are well-made!
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Many congratulations to the Scotland 50+ team in the World Seniors Team Championship finishing more than 20 places higher than their rating (medalists for best achievement!) and special commendation to David Findlay on his excellent score of 6/9 (unbeaten) on Board 2 with a performance 200 points in excess of his FIDE rating! Well done also to the Phil and Rosie Giulian and Richard Jennings who all scored better than their ELO ratings. Also congratulations to our friend Jan Rooze (scoring 8/9!) in leading his Belgium 65+ team to be unexpected bronze medalists!
