Tromso final round preview

Round Eleven Preview

Round Eleven Preview

The top matches will determine many things in the last round of the Olympiad. With not only team medals at play, but also individual ones, there will be a lot of strategizing on which players to rest. China got a relatively accessible pairing in Poland as their final round opponents. Despite the Poles good results so far and Duda having a phenomenal tournament, he is currently only on silver medal because of... Yu Yangyi! Actually if Duda wins against Yu Yangyi (they both play board three) it might drastically change the final rankings.

Hungary is the only team that is only a half match point away from China. The Hungarians have relied on solid performances by most of their boards plus the extraordinary effort of their board two, Balogh Csaba. He is currently leading the gold medal race for board two ahead of Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen from Vietnam and Svetushkin from Moldova... though China's Ding Liren is not far off in the fourth position! They face the ever-powerful Ukraine. A must-see match!

Russia vs. France is another amazing match. The number one seed faces number three on the last round, and only the winner will have a chance for medals. France's tiebreaks are better than Russia's, but with seven teams tied currently with 15 points it is hard to believe that France will remain in the podium with just a draw. France will probably medal with any victory, though it looks hard for them to gold medal as their tiebreak is nowhere close to China's. Russia on the other hand will need a little luck plus the victory to reach a top-three position.

USA's dreams of medalling are still alive largely due to the spectacular performance of Sam Shankland, their reserve board who is guaranteed a gold medal going into the last round. They face the fierce Azerbaijan who started off with a good event but could not keep up the pace. Both teams need a combination of results plus their own victory to achieve Bronze; Silver for either looks unlikely.

Last but not least between medal contenders is the match India vs. Uzbekistan. In the unlikely scenario that all the top matches are drawn and one of these teams wins, the winning team would take home bronze medal (China would take gold and Hungary silver in this scenario).

Board Medal Positions before the last Round

In the top board it seems that Topalov will clinch first as only a disastrous combination of results would take it away from him. Adams' silver medal is not as guaranteed, but he does have a comfortable lead over the opposition. England is not in medal contention (neither is Bulgaria) so the chance that they both rest is pretty high. Bronze medal is a complete toss-up however and it can be one more than ten players that are so close in rating performance that it is impossible to say what will happen. Carlsen will not play the last round against Malaysia, but if the right results happen he might even be able to medal!

Bacrot needs a good series of results to medal

Balogh will have to not lose his last round to keep his gold medal. It is difficult to believe that Hungary can afford to rest him with his fantastic performance, and he will have a tough match against Ukraine. On the plus side for him, he will be White if Hungary uses their top-4 line up. Nguyen might rest against Spain, but that would put his silver medal in jeopardy as a win by Svetushkin might give him the silver (Moldova plays Zambia, a great pairing for a must-win situation) while Ding Liren could also go into silver medal contention with a win. Bacrot on the other hand will need some kind of miracle results for him to go up to the podium, despite his fantastic tournament.

Yu Yangyi is one of the main reasons that China is sitting at the top, he might face Duda in the final round and that will be a huge result for the board three medals. The bronze medal is way too close to call.

Cuba's Ortiz Suarez has had a great event despite his big blunder against Guseinov that lost the Cuba-Azerbaijan match. He absolutely must play tomorrow as he needs to get to eight games in order to qualify for a medal. The same applies to Sedlak, while there is little doubt that Ni Hua will be fielded. Interestingly Howell might be facing Ortiz Suarez, which might knock the Cuban from the gold and let the English player slide into the medals.

The reserve board gold medal will be going to Sam Shankland, while it is difficult to say that Moiseenko will lose his grasp on the silver. The bronze is more interesting, and England only has the choice of sitting out Adams (for his silver on board one) or Sadler (currently bronze on reserve). Definitely a difficult team captain choice!

Women's Section

Russia could not be happier with their last round pairing. Due to a combination of results the Russian's are playing Bulgaria, a relatively weak team to some of the squads with 14 points (India and USA come to mind). With the tiebreak advantage over China it seems that a draw will be enough for the Russian women to take home the gold, but the rating gap between them and Bulgaria also heavily favors them over the board.

China on the other hand faces the powerhouse of Ukraine. A loss for the Chinese will mean that they would be in danger of not medalling at all. Hou Yifan will have to come big against Muzychuk in the final round.

Germany has decen podium chances if they win their match (not with a draw, their tiebreaks are abysmal) but Georgia is not an easy pairing for them at all. With Dzagnidze having a star tournament it's going to be hard for the Germans to hold on to their current fourth place, let alone medal.

The only way that one team not mentioned yet medals is if China beats Ukraine and Spain wins their match while Georgia doesn't. This might catapult the Spaniards ahead of Ukraine in tiebreaks if the right results happen. A surprisingly important match will occur between Argentina and USA. The winner of this will qualify to the World Team Championship as the best team from the Americas.

Yifan has had a good tournament but not as spectacular as the las few

Nana Dzagnidze has a big game tomorrow as a win will keep her team's chances of medalling alive and will guarantee her own gold medal on first board. This can only be challenged by Hou Yifan who might surpass her if she beats Muzychuk. Cramling holds just a minimal edge over Munguntuul, but should be out of striking distance of Lagno... unless Cramling loses and Lagno wins!

Gunina leads the race for gold in board two, while a surprising Khademalsharieh (who goes by Sara) from Iran has a very tough choice: a rest day for her guarantees her a medal, but she needs one more game to score a norm! It will be interesting to see what the Iranian team chooses as they face Latvia.

Ju Wenjun has Khotenashvili on her toes for the bronze and there is little doubt both of these players will be playing tomorrow as China needs all the firepower they can muster against Ukraine while Georgia wants to keep their medal chances afloat.

Matnadze hopes to hold on to silver

Kosteniuk has already clinched gold medal and she will certainly play against Bulgaria, there is no good reason to rest her. The silver is super close. Ushenina will medal for sure if she defeats whoever China decides to put on board three (Zhao Xue has been seeing a lot of rest while Tan Zhongyi's performance has not been good). Frisk from Sweden might want to play her last round match as if she wins and neither Matnadze nor Ushenina do, she might get the medal.

The top scorers in board four are all going to be playing important games tomorrow, so nothing is quite set except that it looks unlikely that Zhukova will not win gold.

Padmini will win the Gold, and Guo Qi the silver (she is playing for sure against Ukraine tomorrow). Dauletova needs one more game for medal contention but if she draws she will get her bronze without doubts.

Photos by Alejandro Ramirez, Pascal Simon and André Schulz

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