More quickchats and preview from Tromso

Quick Chats

Round Eight Preview

China comes from some fantastic matches and will try to topple Azerbaijan. This will be the big match of the day in which anything could happen, especially as China is fielding their top rating player on board two! The youth of both teams will play a significant impact in the styles in the games and you can expect that this match will be full of explosive games.

The surprising team of Romania has wiggled their way through the top boards. They play the Czech Republic that crushed Russia yesterday and it is hard to believe that the Czech's will not win today again.

The Ukrainian team is back on board four and they desperately need to keep winning to keep their medalling hopes alive. However Bulgaria has been playing way above their level and will not be an easy prey. Iotov on board three is giving Bulgaria all the points they need, can he keep providing?

Boards five to eight are full of relatively close matches in which one side is slightly favored. France should edge out Poland, Germany and Cuba are probably dead even but the Cubans have been showing an amazing performance so far (if anything Germany's win against Norway yesterday was a shock, they could have very easily lost it). India will have a very tough opponent in Armenia and although the USA and Hungary are very close in rating, one of these teams has been playing the top boards while the other is recovering from a terrible start. Can America keep gaining those vital points?

Ukraine vs. Bulgaria features Ivanchuk vs. Topalov

Leko faces Nakamura in the top board of Hungary vs. USA

The Czech's play Romania, a relatively weak team for a board two pairing

The woes of the Olympiad: Costa Rica drew the weak team of Nicaragua yesterday,
only to be paired against the quite strong Greek team!

Yanick Pelletier is board one against Amin Bassem in Switzerland vs. Egypt

Ni Hua is board four against Guseinov. Every point is vital in the China-Azerbaijan match at the very top!

Poland will have to play above their level to beat France. Duda is one of their young and still under-rated stars, but he can beat Edouard who is having a fantastic tournament?

Standings

Women's Section

After yesterday's brilliant victory by Russia against China things are suddenly clear: Russia needs to simply play good matches to take the championship. None of their close competitors have had a particularly good tournament, with Armenia bouncing around the top boards, but not the first three, and Georgia having already been taken care of. Ukraine is also having a bad showing, so who will stop the Russians?

Today they play Hungary which should be a match that is not so problematic for them. China faces Poland and that should keep the Chinese in hot pursuit of Russia. France and United States face off in a very interesting board four; it is a match that is simply too close to call. In an interesting turn of events USA has rested their top board, Irina Krush, after she has had a simply dismal performance in this tournament.

Ukraine and Georgia is an excellent match and will determine which of these two teams keeps their hopes alive to pursue Russia. Colombia has had a fantastic tournament and if they beat Armenia they will certainly be the surprise of the event, but it seems difficult for them to pull this off.

Speaking of teams that are having good and bad tournaments, the Indian team will face Indonesia. India must redeem themselves from their mediocre tournament so far while Indonesia simply tries to keep impressing.

Australia comes from beating Mexico and England, but Serbia will certainly be a difficult opponent

Aijarkyn Shyngs Kyzy is fourth board today for Kyrgyzstan, a match that seems impossible for them today as they face the powerhouse of Bulgaria

Anna Zatonskih will lead the American team today in Irina Krush's absence

Natalia Pogonina (Russia) rested yesterday and is ready for action against Hungary

Harika Dronavalli will try to rake up some much needed points for India

Lilit Galojan is not Armenia's only Lilit, Mrktchian shares her first name

FIDE President went around for a stroll near the top boards

Standings

Photos by Alejandro Ramirez, Pascal Simon and André Schulz

Live commentary, interviews, analysis

Where and how to watch: log into Playchess.com and watch all the games in progress. Analyse with the built-in engine, chat with other spectators. And if you are a premium member you can watch all the lectures, interviews and analysis free of charge. And it isn't at all expensive. Prices for a full year's membership are given in the table below.

During the games we have live broadcast by expert commentators,
with post-game interviews and analysis directly from the venue.

Three of our live game commentators: Yasser Seirawan, Simon Williams, Chris Ward

Interviewing Indian IM Tania Sachdev immediately after her game

Danny King's daily midnight wrapup on Youtube – recorded in the midnight dusk of Tromsø

Schedule of live commentary, TV shows, training and tournaments

Playchess.com is Europe’s largest chess server, as well as being the official server of the German Chess Federation. More than 4,000 players are logged on every evening and you can play, chat, watch grandmaster games or take part in free chess training with friends from anywhere in the world. There is even a special room for beginners and hobby players where you can play games without a clock.

Get your Playchess membership intantly – or try it out with a single mouse click

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

All you need to know about the Olympiad

• Full information on the games, the venue, the atmosphere and what's happening on and off the chessboard – 68 pages in PDF, 45 MB in size.
• All practical details you need to know before and after your arrival, including information about money, the climate, arriving at Oslo and Tromsø Airports, lost or delayed luggage, check-in at the hotels, the accreditation desk, information offices and the opening ceremony.

All ChessBase reports on the 2014 Olympiad in Tromsø