Chess Olympiad Round 7: McShane beats Nihal as England fall narrowly to India

Four wins. Four defeats.

Round 7 was a mixed bag for the Home Nations, in the most literal sense.

England lost narrowly to India in the Open, but Luke McShane produced one of the results of the day by beating Nihal Sarin. England Women responded to their Round 6 defeat with a 4-0 win over Turkmenistan.

Scotland swept Jamaica 4-0. Wales beat Macau, China 3.5-0.5. Ireland Women beat Latvia 3-1.

The other side of the day was less pleasant. Scotland Women lost 2.5-1.5 to Austria, Wales Women lost by the same score to Luxembourg, and Hong Kong, China beat Ireland 2.5-1.5.

The standings moved sharply as a result. England Women are now 12th from a starting rank of 20. Wales Open have climbed to 78th from seed 100. Ireland Women are 37th from seed 56.

England Open, meanwhile, have dropped from 10th at the rest day to 20th after their first defeat of the Olympiad.

England push India, but India take the match

England were given one of the hardest possible returns from the rest day: India.

The defending champions arrived after their Round 6 defeat to Uzbekistan, while England had reached halfway unbeaten with four wins and two draws.

India won 2.5-1.5, but this was not a routine match.

McShane beats Nihal

Luke McShane's win over Nihal Sarin was a 120-point rating upset, but the number alone does not describe the game.

McShane spent much of the middlegame walking a very narrow line, often with little time to do it.

Nihal's 29...Qb4 was the first important opening. Nb3 was the stronger continuation. The game remained complicated, and by the later stages both players were operating under severe pressure.

Then it started swinging.

62...Rb8 gave McShane a major opportunity. 69.f5+ let much of it go. Nihal's 74...Kxg3 opened the door again.

McShane eventually found his way through.

It was another difficult day for Nihal after his Round 6 loss to Nodirbek Yakubboev, but from an England perspective this was an excellent win against a 2718-rated opponent.

Adams holds Arjun, despite the live board trying to invent another game

Michael Adams drew Arjun Erigaisi with Black.

The actual chess was remarkably controlled. Neither player established a sustained advantage and the draw was never seriously under threat.

The live feed had other ideas.

At around move 17, the DGT feed briefly appeared to show Arjun losing a rook to a simple Adams combination. The move had not happened.

A couple of moves later it appeared to show Adams losing his queen.

That had not happened either.

For a short period the electronic board was playing a considerably more dramatic game than Adams and Arjun were.

Once the feed caught up with reality, the position remained what it had been for most of the afternoon: balanced.

Praggnanandhaa breaks through against Vitiugov

Nikita Vitiugov's game with Praggnanandhaa stayed competitive through the early middlegame.

The first major break came with 25.Rh4. Nh4 was the tougher defensive choice, and after the rook move Vitiugov's position became progressively more difficult.

He continued fighting, but by 30.N2f3, played with only seconds remaining, Praggnanandhaa had a forced route through.

India had their first full point.

Gukesh survives the complications

Daniel Fernandez against Gukesh was exactly the sort of game where a simple engine label can be misleading.

There were mistakes on both sides, particularly from move 40 onwards, but many of them came in a genuinely difficult tactical position where the best continuation was a narrow defensive resource rather than an obvious move.

The advantage changed hands several times through the sequence beginning with 40...Kh8.

Gukesh eventually came through it.

India therefore took boards one and four, England won board three, and Adams' draw on board two left the final score at 2.5-1.5.

England are now 20th with 10 match points, compared with their starting rank of 11.

England Women respond with 4-0

England Women could hardly have produced a cleaner team result.

Turkmenistan 0-4 England.

Bodhana Sivanandan, Lan Yao, Jovanka Houska and Harriet Hunt all won.

For Sivanandan, the unbeaten run continues.

She is now on 6/7: five wins, two draws and no defeats.

Her game against Lala Shohradova stayed balanced deep into the contest before 43...Nf4 gave Sivanandan the first clear practical opening. Rb7 was the tougher defence. Another mistake followed and Sivanandan converted.

Lan Yao's win was less straightforward. Leyla Shohradova's 30.Qc1 gave Yao a strong chance, but Yao allowed some of the advantage to escape before 33.Ng3 handed the initiative back.

Jovanka Houska's game was messier still. Chances went both ways before Mahri Agamuradova's 31...Ng5, played with only seconds remaining, became the decisive late error.

Harriet Hunt had the cleanest turning point. Her game with Ogulsuray Bayrambayeva was close until 30.Rd3. Kg1 was the tougher defence; Hunt took over from there.

England Women have jumped to 12th.

They started the Olympiad seeded 20th.

Scotland: 4-0 in the Open, narrow defeat in the Women's section

Scotland's Open team needed a result after three successive defeats.

They got one.

Scotland 4-0 Jamaica.

Frederick Waldhausen Gordon, Andrew Greet, Rishi Vijayakumar and Konstantinos Megalios all won.

Waldhausen Gordon took control after Shreyas Smith's 14...Nc6 and never really lost it.

Greet's game was considerably less comfortable. He gave Raheem Glaves a chance with 38...Kd6, but Glaves failed to capitalise. The decisive error eventually came with 48.Kf1 in time pressure.

Vijayakumar and Jaden Shaw exchanged opportunities in another complicated game. Vijayakumar lost much of his advantage with 20.d6, only for 22...Re6 to return the initiative. After the time control, 41...Kg7 was the decisive turn.

Megalios had to win his game twice. Akeem Brown's 31.Qxc5 first tipped the position towards Scotland, but 45...Nc4+ let some of the advantage disappear. Brown's 47.b3 and 48.h5 returned control to Megalios.

The 4-0 takes Scotland to 68th from seed 60, with eight match points.

Lampard supplies Scotland Women's win

Scotland Women lost 2.5-1.5 to Austria.

Alice Lampard supplied the victory, and it was a good one.

Rated 1912, she beat 2090-rated Elisabeth Hapala for a 178-point upset.

Lampard herself had taken a risk with 14.Bxc5, but Hapala failed to punish it. The position effectively reset before 21...g6 became the real turning point.

Suzie Cooke drew Emilia Deak-Sala.

Kanishka Bhatia lost to Jasmin-Denise Schloffer, while Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant lost to Olga Badelka after a difficult time-pressure sequence.

Scotland Women are now 76th from seed 60.

Wales Open climb to 78th

Wales came into the Olympiad seeded 100th.

After seven rounds they are 78th.

Round 7 brought a 3.5-0.5 win over Macau, China.

Jose Camacho Collados, Jonathan Blackburn and Iwan Cave won. Alex Bullen drew.

Camacho Collados was given the first serious opportunity by 16...a5. He took control and converted.

Blackburn's game was far less tidy. He gave Seak Hin Ieong chances more than once, most notably with 20...Qc6 and later 39...Qb4. Ieong did not make either opportunity stick, and Blackburn eventually secured the point.

Cave's game with Joao Carlos de V R Bartilotti was chaos.

Cave could have been in serious trouble after 16.Be3. Then 19...Nd6 and 22...g5 turned the game back towards White. Cave later gave Black another route back before 31...Ka8, played in severe time pressure, finally handed Wales an advantage that stayed.

Bullen's draw with David Sun contained a missed win. Sun's 54.Qf4 allowed a forced finish, but 54...Re4 failed to find it and the game ended level.

Wales have now won four of their seven matches.

For a side seeded 100th, 78th is a significant move in the right direction.

Syringa Camp wins, but Wales Women fall short

Wales Women lost 2.5-1.5 to Luxembourg.

Syringa Camp produced the Welsh win, beating Nadine Kremer despite a 169-point rating gap.

Camp had to recover from an early mistake, but Kremer's 10.Qf2 changed the direction of the game. Camp took the initiative, briefly loosened her grip later, then converted.

Imogen Camp drew Anna Wagener.

Olivia Smith fought Elvira Berend for 95 moves before 96.Kd1 finally decided the game. Kb1 would have kept the fight going.

Emma Kong had chances against Hannah Jane Lyon before 30.Qd1 and 31.Bc3 turned the game decisively towards Luxembourg.

Wales Women drop to 94th from seed 85.

Ireland Women climb; Ireland Open slide

The two Irish teams went in opposite directions.

Ireland Women beat Latvia 3-1 and moved to 37th from seed 56.

The Open team lost 2.5-1.5 to Hong Kong, China and now sit 116th from seed 66.

Ireland Women beat Latvia 3-1

Trisha Kanyamarala, Alice O'Gorman and Diana Mirza all won.

Kanyamarala's game against Laura Rogule stayed playable until serious time pressure. 30.Nxf6+ was the first major break, and another error followed at move 33. Kanyamarala converted.

O'Gorman produced one of the bigger Home Nations upsets of the round.

She beat Agnesa Stepania Ter-Avetisjana, rated 2193, for a 184-point upset.

It was not one-way traffic. 26...Kb8 gave O'Gorman the opportunity, 27.Be1 let much of it disappear, and 27...Rd6 immediately handed it back. O'Gorman kept control from there.

Mirza's game with Naomi Maklakova was even less stable.

A tactical fight produced opportunities for both players. Maklakova's 23...Qxa4 gave Mirza a major chance, 24.Bxb7+ returned it, and 30...Rhb8 handed Mirza control again.

Mirza won.

At 1950 against 2095, that was another qualifying upset: +145.

Lara Putar lost to Ilze Berzina on board three.

Ireland Women are now five wins and two losses from seven rounds.

Ho Cheung Wong decides Ireland's match

Ireland's Open match against Hong Kong, China contained three draws.

Unfortunately for Ireland, the only decisive game went the other way.

Tarun Kanyamarala drew Niilo Man Nissinen. Alexander Baburin drew Chun Yung Samuel Lam. Kavin Venkatesan drew Edmond Meng Zhang.

Adam Collins lost to Ho Cheung Wong.

And it was not a small upset.

Wong was rated 1966.

Collins was 2340.

374 rating points.

The first major crack came with Collins' 19...Rfb8. Bc5 was the tougher defence. Wong seized the initiative, and 26...Qxa2 left Ireland facing a forced finish.

That single board decided the match.

Ireland are now 116th, fifty places below their starting rank.

There are still four rounds to play, but that is the Home Nations position most in need of a change in direction.

Home Nations after Round 7

Starting rank against current position is useful context, not a verdict. Swiss pairings, opposition strength and tiebreaks all matter.

The biggest positive movements are Wales Open, up 22 places from seed, England Women, up eight, and Ireland Women, up 19.

Ireland Open have moved 50 places in the other direction.

Around the Olympiad: Uzbekistan remain perfect

Uzbekistan are still the only perfect team in the Open.

They beat China 3-1 in Round 7, with both Nodirbeks delivering the decisive points: Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Ding Liren and Nodirbek Yakubboev beat Yu Yangyi.

Seven matches. Seven wins. Fourteen match points.

They now lead by two points, with the Netherlands, India, Germany, Azerbaijan and Armenia all on 12.

The Women's section has no perfect team left.

China and Kazakhstan drew 2-2 and share the lead on 13 match points. India closed to within one by beating Germany 3.5-0.5, while Georgia beat Poland 2.5-1.5.

Bulgaria, Armenia and Mongolia also moved onto 12 after beating Ukraine, Azerbaijan and France respectively.

The United States beat Switzerland 3-1, with Carissa Yip defeating Alexandra Kosteniuk on board one.

Open Top 10 after Round 7

The official Chess-Results order is retained. MP is match points, TB2 is the official tiebreak applied after match points, and GP is game points.

View the full Open standings after Round 7 →

Women's Top 10 after Round 7

England Women are immediately outside this group in 12th on 10 match points.

View the full Women's standings after Round 7 →

Upsets of the Olympiad: Open Round 7

Round 7 produced 72 qualifying Open rating upsets, the highest total of the event so far. Draws, forfeits and games involving an unrated player are excluded.

Ho Cheung Wong's win over Adam Collins therefore ranks as the second-largest Open upset of Round 7.

Luke McShane's 120-point win over Nihal Sarin also qualifies for the complete list.

View every Open Round 7 game → · View all Open upsets →

Upsets of the Olympiad: Women's Round 7

The Women's section produced 49 qualifying rating upsets. Draws, forfeits and games involving an unrated player are excluded.

Two Home Nations players make the Round 7 top ten: Ireland's Alice O'Gorman in eighth and Scotland's Alice Lampard in ninth.

Diana Mirza's +145 and Syringa Camp's +169 also qualify for the complete list.

View every Women's Round 7 game → · View all Women's upsets →

Round 8: what comes next

The Open leaders face another major test.

Germany play Uzbekistan on board one. India face Azerbaijan and the Netherlands play Armenia.

England do not get much respite after India. Their Round 8 opponents are Uzbekistan 2, who are 14th with 11 match points.

Open

• England v Uzbekistan 2
• Syria v Scotland
• New Zealand v Wales
• Ireland v Burundi

Women's

• Peru v England
• Ireland v Israel
• Scotland v Algeria
• Morocco v Wales

England Women against Peru is particularly interesting. Both teams have 10 match points, with England 12th and Peru 20th after seven rounds.

Board selections had not yet been published when this report was prepared.

My take

England against India stings a little because this was not a match where England were simply outclassed.

McShane beat Nihal. Adams held Arjun with Black. For a while, England genuinely had something to work with.

The DGT board also spent a few minutes convincing everyone that Arjun had hung a rook, before deciding Adams should hang his queen instead. Neither move happened. My own post-game analysis had Adams' actual game at roughly 99% accuracy and around 3 ACPL, which is about as far away from that imaginary queen blunder as you can get.

Saying that, England are now 20th from seed 11.

There is no point dressing that up. Four rounds remain and they need a strong finish if they are going to get back around their starting position.

The strongest Home Nations position right now is probably England Women.

Seeded 20th. Sitting 12th. Five match wins from seven. Bodhana Sivanandan is still unbeaten on 6/7.

Ireland Women are also having a strong event relative to seed, and Wales Open moving from 100th to 78th deserves attention.

At the other end, Ireland Open are 116th from seed 66. That is a substantial drop and Round 8 against Burundi is the sort of match they now need to win.

Four rounds remain.

Plenty can still move.

Sources

• Chess-Results - Open Round 7 individual results
• Chess-Results - Open standings after Round 7
• Chess-Results - Women's Round 7 individual results
• Chess-Results - Women's standings after Round 7
• Chess.com - Uzbekistan Leads With 7/7 Match Wins; China, Kazakhstan Share Women's Lead
• IMSC Lichess Studies for the eight England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland teams