Following on from the success of the 1st online Olympiad in 2020 and with the continuing travel restrictions due to Covid 19 it was unsurprising that FIDE organised a second online Olympiad. Once again the time limit for the event was 15 mins each for all moves plus 5 second increments from move 1. This was certainly a challenge for the players who are used to playing much longer time limits in such competitions.
155 countries entered this event and it was a fantastic honour to be asked to Captain and play in the team for the second time. The format of the event was the same as in 2020 with it being a mixed team event. A squad of 11 players were selected including 4 men – Jonathan Blackburn, Grzegorz Toczek, Jason Garcia and Allan Pleasants, 3 women – Olivia Smith, Kimberley Chong and Julie Wilson, 2 junior male players being Hugo Fowler and Duncan Macdonald and 2 junior females being Susanna Fraser and Hiya Ray
We were ranked 74th of the 155 countries and were once again placed in Division 3 of the competition which started on Friday 27th August 2021 and the 50 teams in Division 3 were put into 5 groups of ten teams.
Division 3 Report
We played 3 games each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday against the other 9 countries being Palestine, Zambia, Botswana, Kosovo, Scotland, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Angola and ICCD. To progress to Division 2 we needed to finish in the top 3 teams in our section.
Each match included 6 players being 2 men, 2 women, 1 junior male and 1 junior female and they played against their equivalent from the other countries. The pools were a straight forward league structure with 2 points for each match you win and 1 point for each match you draw.
As captain I had to quickly get up to speed on the technical requirements of the competition. It can be so easy for a player to use a chess computer to tell them what moves to play in such a competition. FIDE did all they can to avoid cheating and all games were played whilst on webcam and we were not allowed to have any books, papers or other electrical devices in the room whilst the match was being played. We could not have our desk facing a window in case someone was outside the window giving us messages and we were not allowed to leave our desk whilst the game was ongoing. No one was allowed to enter the room either and we were observed by an independent arbiter for the duration of the match. After each game we had to make ourselves available to be interviewed by the arbiter if required to explain why we played certain moves.
Some of the matches were commented on by Grandmasters on the Chess.com website which was a particular privilege for individuals.
Round 1 –
Our first round match was against Palestine and as one of the weaker teams in the group it was important we got off to a winning start. Unfortunately, Olivia and Greg were not available for rounds 1-3 which made it a more challenging match. We managed to win the match fairly comfortably with good wins for Jason, Kimberly, Hugo and Susanna.
Final Score Palestine 1.5 – Wales 4.5
| Bo. | 10 | Palestine | Rtg | – | 4 | Wales | Rtg | 1½:4½ |
| 4.1 | Khaled.A, Hemaid | 1928 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | 1 – 0 | |
| 4.2 | Alqwasma, Mohamed | 1732 | – | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.3 | Taqwa, Hamouri | 1116 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.4 | WCM | Faqeeh, Rahaf | 1444 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | ½ – ½ | |
| 4.5 | Mohamad, Seder | 1699 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.6 | Sawan, Eman | 1000 | – | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | 0 – 1 |
Round 2 –
In round 2 we face a much stronger Zambia team that beat us in last year’s event 4.5 – 1.5. However, a real solid team performance with great wins for Kimberly, Julie, Duncan and Hiya resulted in an excellent 4.5 to 1.5 win. I was really pleased for Hiya and Duncan winning in their debut match in this event.
Final Score Wales 4.5 – Zambia 1.5
| Bo. | 4 | Wales | Rtg | – | 5 | Zambia | Rtg | 4½:1½ |
| 2.1 | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | – | IM | Jere, Daniel | 2397 | ½ – ½ |
| 2.2 | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | – | FM | Munenga, Douglas D | 2009 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.3 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | WFM | Mwango, Lorita | 1874 | 1 – 0 | |
| 2.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | WCM | Mbatha, Constance | 1705 | 1 – 0 | |
| 2.5 | MacDonald, Duncan | 1415 | – | Mwape, Mwewa | 1798 | 1 – 0 | ||
| 2.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | Simwaka, Walusungu Nozyani | 1329 | 1 – 0 |
Round 3 –
Our third round opponent’s Botswana were evenly rated to us and we were looking to finish day 1 on a real high. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan and with only Hugo winning we didn’t get the result we wanted.
Final Score Botswana 4 – Wales 2
We ended the day with 4 points from 3 games and in 4th place overall.
| Bo. | 6 | Botswana | Rtg | – | 4 | Wales | Rtg | 4 : 2 |
| 5.1 | IM | Oatlhotse, Providence | 2182 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | ½ – ½ |
| 5.2 | CM | Mosutha, Thuso | 1949 | – | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | 1 – 0 | |
| 5.3 | WCM | Gabatshwarwe, Refilwe | 1667 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 1 – 0 | |
| 5.4 | WIM | Francis, Onkemetse | 1726 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | ½ – ½ | |
| 5.5 | Selogelo, Othata | 1707 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 5.6 | WFM | Marape, Naledi | 1629 | – | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | 1 – 0 |
Round 4 –
It was great that on Saturday we had both Olivia and Greg available and with a really tough match v a very strong Scotland team to come in round 5 I picked a really strong team for the match v Kosovo. We drew with Kosovo last year 3 -3 in this event so knew it was not going to be easy. Initially the match result went against us 3.5 to 2.5 with only Kimberly and Hiya winning but we were subsequently awarded the match 3.5 to 2.5 on Monday after the event had finished due to an intervention from the arbiters.
Final Score Kosovo 2.5 – Wales 3.5
| Round 4 on 2021/08/28 at 1200 UTC | ||||||||
| Bo. | 8 | Kosovo | Rtg | – | 4 | Wales | Rtg | 2½:3½ |
| 1.1 | FM | Ermeni, Avni | 2201 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | ½ – ½ |
| 1.2 | Bardhi, Valmor | 2171 | – | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | 1 – 0 | |
| 1.3 | WCM | Saraci, Ndriqona | 1225 | – | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | 0 – 1 |
| 1.4 | WCM | Saraci, Rinesa | 1184 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 0 – 1 | |
| 1.5 | Dobraj, Bleron | 1879 | – | MacDonald, Duncan | 1415 | 1 – 0 | ||
| 1.6 | Recica, Jona | 1000 | – | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | 0 – 1 | ||
Round 5 –
Now came our toughest game against a Scotland squad which boasted a GM, IM and WGM. Like most other teams against Scotland we really struggled and thankfully Susanna saved us from being whitewashed.
| Bo. | 4 | Wales | Rtg | – | 2 | Scotland | Rtg | ½ :5½ |
| 5.1 | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | – | IM | Greet, Andrew N | 2434 | 0 – 1 | |
| 5.2 | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | – | FM | Abdulla, Murad | 2167 | 0 – 1 | |
| 5.3 | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | – | GM | Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan | 2282 | 0 – 1 |
| 5.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | Lampard, Alice | 1763 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 5.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | Gordon, Frederick | 1415 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 5.6 | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | – | Feng, Jennifer | 1097 | ½ – ½ |
Final Score Wales 0.5 – Scotland 5.5
Round 6 –
We really needed a good result against a strong Nigeria team to keep our chances of qualifying for promotion to Division 2. This for me, was one of our best performances of the weekend at a crucial time for us. We had great wins from Jon and Greg against higher ranked opponents on boards 1 and 2 and Kimberly, Hugo and Hiya continued their excellent form with wins against higher ranked opponents on their boards.
Final Score Wales 5.5 – Nigeria 0.5
This was a great way to end the day and we were still in joint 4th place behind Scotland, Angola and Botswana. We knew that to qualify we needed to win all of our games on Sunday.
| Bo. | 1 | Nigeria | Rtg | – | 4 | Wales | Rtg | ½ :5½ |
| 2.1 | FM | Kigigha, Bomo | 2314 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B | 2195 | 0 – 1 |
| 2.2 | FM | Osunfuyi, Abimbola | 2305 | – | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | 0 – 1 |
| 2.3 | Samson, Peace | 1828 | – | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | ½ – ½ | |
| 2.4 | WFM | Ogbiyoyo, Perpetual Eloho |
1792 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.5 | Okemakinde, Toluwanimi | 1975 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 2.6 | Pelomoh, Jessica | 1737 | – | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | 0 – 1 |
Round 7 –
Starting on Sunday against United Arab Emirates as one of the weaker teams in the group was a must win game for us to have any chance of being promoted. Generally, we outranked our opponents on each board but many of the players rankings in this event could not be relied upon. This ended up being much closer than I wanted but we managed wins from Jon, Olivia and Hiya to win a close match. Hiya continued her excellent run of form winning her 4th game in a row.
Final Score Wales 3.5 – United Arab Emirates 2.5
| Bo. | 4 | Wales | Rtg | – | 9 | United Arab Emirates | Rtg | 3½:2½ |
| 4.1 | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B | 2195 | – | CM | Khalifah, Khaled | 1555 | 1 – 0 |
| 4.2 | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | – | Abdulrahman Mohammad, Al Taher | 1412 | ½ – ½ | |
| 4.3 | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | – | WCM | Fatima, Saif Al-Ali | 1313 | 1 – 0 |
| 4.4 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | Anoud, Eisa Bashkardi | 1000 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | Al Darmaky, Sultan | 1588 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | Alghala Ali, Alali | 1109 | 1 – 0 |
Round 8 –
With Angola beating Botswana in round 7 we had moved up to 3rd place but knew we had the undefeated Angola team in round 8. We now knew that if we won both our remaining games we would qualify for promotion to Division 2. For this reason, I decided to keep the same team that had won in rounds 6 and 7. This game was very much one in which I couldn’t stop biting my nails but with wins from Kimberly, Olivia and Hugo we managed a brilliant win.
Final Score Angola 2.5 – Wales 3.5
Angola went on to beat a weakened Scotland team in round 9 and this was the only game they lost in the whole event. A fantastic team effort.
| Bo. | 3 | Angola | Rtg | – | 4 | Wales | Rtg | 2½:3½ |
| 3.1 | IM | Silva, David | 2321 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | 1 – 0 |
| 3.2 | Dias, Vanderson | 2178 | – | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | ½ – ½ | |
| 3.3 | WIM | Caxita, Esperanc | 1837 | – | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | 0 – 1 |
| 3.4 | WFM | Pires, Luzia | 1655 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 0 – 1 | |
| 3.5 | Prospero, Alexandre | 1560 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 3.6 | Paulo, Jemima | 1754 | – | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | 1 – 0 |
Round 9 –
Our last round opponents were the team bottom of the pool ICCD, The International Chess Committee of the Deaf. I was now really nervous hoping we could finish off the event with the win that we needed to get promoted to Division 2. I made one change to the team bringing in Susanna for Hiya. I would like to thank Allan, Julie and Duncan for their fantastic attitude in supporting the team on the last day when they were not playing. Things in this match started well with wins for Susanna and Greg putting us 2 -0 up. Then Kimberly drew leaving us needing 1 win to win the match. I could see that Hugo was struggling so needed Olivia or Jon to win their games. Thankfully Olivia won to confirm our win and promotion. I knew Jon was gutted in losing his match as at the time he thought it may have cost us promotion but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
Final Score Wales 3.5 – ICCD 2.5
| Bo. | 4 | Wales | Rtg | – | 7 | ICCD | Rtg | 3½:2½ |
| 3.1 | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | – | Jankunas, Tomas | 2037 | 0 – 1 | |
| 3.2 | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | – | Mate, Balazs | 2110 | 1 – 0 | |
| 3.3 | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | – | WCM | von Erichsen, Annegret | 1998 | 1 – 0 |
| 3.4 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | Malika, Handa | 1345 | ½ – ½ | ||
| 3.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | Piekielny, Pawel | 1838 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 3.6 | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | – | Grybauskaite, Ugne | 1000 | 1 – 0 |
We had done it!!! Three wins 3.5 to 2.5 on the final day meant we had finished in third place in Pool C ahead of Botswana and Zambia but behind Angola and Scotland.
Final Table
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | – | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 2 | Scotland | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 41,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | 3 | Angola | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 39,0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 4 | Wales | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 31,0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 5 | Zambia | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 30,5 | 0 | |
| 5 | 6 | Botswana | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 29,0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 1 | Nigeria | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 26,0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 9 | United Arab Emirates | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 20,5 | 0 | |
| 8 | 10 | Palestine | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 18,5 | 0 | |
| 9 | 7 | ICCD | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 17,5 | 0 | |
| 10 | 8 | Kosovo | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 16,5 | 0 |
To finish third in such a tough group was an amazing team effort and we have now been rewarded with being promoted to Division 2 which will be a fantastic opportunity for the players to play incredibly strong opposition. I would like to thank all the players for making my job easy during the weekend. We really played as a team with contributions from different players in different games. The Division 2 matches will take place on Thursday 2nd September to Saturday 4th September 2021 and will be broadcast once again on Chess.com/Live TV. A number of us appeared on the chess.com coverage over the weekend and hopefully we will make a repeat appearance next weekend.
Division 2 Report
Having been delighted to get promoted from Division 3 we knew the challenge that faced us in Division 2 would be significant. Most of the teams had titled players filling all the places in their squads. To make the challenge even more significant a number of our squad were unavailable for a number of our games. We contacted the arbiter to request to make changes to our squad but unfortunately this was refused. Olivia Smith was unavailable for 6 of our 9 games which meant that Kimberly and Julie had to play all the games on days 1 and 2. Also Susanna Fraser was unavailable for the first 5 rounds which meant that Hiya Ray was needed to play the first 5 rounds. Both Jon Blackburn and Greg were unavailable for the majority of games on Saturday. Based on this unavailability it was an achievement not to default any boards during our 9 games
We played 3 games each day against the other 9 countries being Malaysia, Italy, Estonia, Iraq, Latvia, Moldova, Switzerland, Uzbekistan and Austria. To progress to Division 1 we needed the miracle of finishing in the top 3 teams in our section.
Each match included 6 players being 2 men, 2 women, 1 junior male and 1 junior female and they played against their equivalent from the other countries. The pools were a straight forward league structure with 2 points for each match you win and 1 point for each match you draw.
Round 1 –
Our first round match was against Malaysia whose team were full of titled players. Julie, Hiya and Greg had great draws against their titled players but overall Malaysia were just too strong for us.
Final Score Wales 1.5 – Malaysia 4.5
| Bo. | 8 | Wales | Rtg | – | 7 | Malaysia | Rtg | 1½:4½ |
| 4.1 | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | – | FM | Lim, Zhuo Ren | 2173 | 0 – 1 |
| 4.2 | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | – | FM | Subramaniam, Sumant | 2094 | ½ – ½ |
| 4.3 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | WIM | Azhar, Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa |
1776 | 0 – 1 | |
| 4.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | WFM | Azhar, Puteri Rifqah Fahada | 1783 | ½ – ½ | |
| 4.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | FM | Chan, Kim Yew | 2214 | 0 – 1 | |
| 4.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | WCM | Chua, Jia-Tien | 1798 | ½ – ½ |
Round 2 –
It didn’t get any easier in round 2 when we faced one of the group favourites Italy. Having a Grandmaster on board 1 and titled players in the remainder of the team this was an incredibly difficult challenge. Unfortunately, this resulted in us suffering our first whitewash in the event.
Final Score Italy 6 – Wales 0
| Bo. | 1 | Italy | Rtg | – | 8 | Wales | Rtg | 6 : 0 |
| 3.1 | GM | Moroni, Luca Jr | 2519 | – | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | 1 – 0 |
| 3.2 | IM | Lodici, Lorenzo | 2289 | – | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | 1 – 0 | |
| 3.3 | IM | Zimina, Olga | 2327 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 1 – 0 | |
| 3.4 | WIM | Movileanu, Daniela | 2099 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | 1 – 0 | |
| 3.5 | FM | Di Benedetto, Edoardo | 2152 | – | MacDonald, Duncan | 1415 | 1 – 0 | |
| 3.6 | WFM | Sala, Giulia | 1859 | – | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | 1 – 0 |
Round 3 –
Our really tough day continued in round 3 against a strong Estonia team and unfortunately we suffered our second whitewash of the day.
Final Score ales 0 – Estonia 6
We ended the day in 10th place overall and this day showed the gulf in standard between division 3 and division 2.
| Bo. | 8 | Wales | Rtg | – | 5 | Estonia | Rtg | 0 : 6 |
| 3.1 | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B | 2195 | – | IM | Sirosh, Ilja | 2226 | 0 – 1 |
| 3.2 | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | – | Vorobjov, Pavel | 2287 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 3.3 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | WFM | Sinitsina, Anastassia | 2156 | 0 – 1 | |
| 3.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | Viikmaa, Karmen | 1844 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 3.5 | MacDonald, Duncan | 1415 | – | Rychagov, Nikita | 1954 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 3.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | Blokhin, Sofia | 1762 | 0 – 1 |
Round 4 –
After a really tough first day we had to pick ourselves up and reenergise ourselves for day 2. Our 4th round opponents were Iraq who had also been promoted from Division 3 and we had beaten them 3.5 – 2.5 in last year’s event. With great wins from Greg, Kimberly and Hiya and a good draw from Jon we managed to repeat the win from last year. It was such a relief to win our first game in Division 2.
Final Score Iraq 2.5 – Wales 3.5
| o. | 9 | Iraq | Rtg | – | 8 | Wales | Rtg | 2½:3½ |
| 4.1 | FM | Salih, Akar Ali Salih | 2259 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B | 2195 | ½ – ½ |
| 4.2 | FM | Ahmed, Ali Layth Ahmed | 2163 | – | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | 0 – 1 |
| 4.3 | Al-Fayyadh, Zainab Asif Abdulah |
1733 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 4.4 | WFM | Jalaluldeen, Kareen Kamal J. |
1751 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | 1 – 0 | |
| 4.5 | FM | Rabeea, Sabah Nori | 1841 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 1 – 0 | |
| 4.6 | WCM | Al-Fayyadh, Yamama Asif Abdula |
1611 | – | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | 0 – 1 |
Round 5 –
On a high after our win against Iraq we came back down to earth with a bump against an incredibly strong Latvia team. Allan Pleasants had a brilliant draw against his FM opponent which saved us from a whitewash.
| Bo. | 8 | Wales | Rtg | – | 3 | Latvia | Rtg | ½ :5½ |
| 2.1 | FM | Toczek, Grzegorz | 2240 | – | GM | Meshkovs, Nikita | 2536 | 0 – 1 |
| 2.2 | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | – | FM | Mustaps, Matiss | 2376 | ½ – ½ | |
| 2.3 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | WGM | Rogule, Laura | 2261 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | WFM | Vidruska, Renate | 1951 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.5 | MacDonald, Duncan | 1415 | – | FM | Golubovskis, Maksims | 2244 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | Golsta, Madara | 1895 | 0 – 1 |
Final Score Wales 0.5 – Latvia 5.5
Round 6 –
Our last match of day 2 wasn’t any easier with us being paired against Moldova. Jon Blackburn had an excellent draw against his IM opponent which again avoided a whitewash for us.
Final Score Moldova 5.5 – Wales 0.5
| Bo. | 4 | Moldova | Rtg | – | 8 | Wales | Rtg | 5½: ½ |
| 5.1 | IM | Macovei, Andrei | 2272 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B | 2195 | ½ – ½ |
| 5.2 | IM | Schitco, Ivan | 2290 | – | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | 1 – 0 | |
| 5.3 | Verbin, Valentina | 1659 | – | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | 1 – 0 | ||
| 5.4 | Petricenco, Ana | 1344 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | 1 – 0 | ||
| 5.5 | FM | Lashkin, Jegor | 2180 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 1 – 0 | |
| 5.6 | Tuktamisova, Diana | 1542 | – | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | 1 – 0 |
At the end of day 2 we were placed 9th in the group.
Round 7 –
It was great to welcome Olivia back into the squad for Round 7. However, Greg was now in Poland playing an over the board match and Jon was also unavailable. We were paired with Switzerland and Allan and Olivia had great draws but unfortunately, we were unable to win any boards.
Final Score Wales 1 – Switzerland 5
| Round 7 on 2021/09/04 at 1000 UTC | ||||||||
| Bo. | 8 | Wales | Rtg | – | 6 | Switzerland | Rtg | 1 : 5 |
| 1.1 | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | – | IM | Gaehwiler, Gabriel | 2355 | 0 – 1 | |
| 1.2 | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | – | FM | Arcuti, Davide | 2083 | ½ – ½ | |
| 1.3 | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | – | Tamrazyan, Gohar | 1578 | ½ – ½ | |
| 1.4 | Chong, Kimberly | 1790 | – | Thode, Gilda | 1910 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 1.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | FM | Fecker, Noah | 2112 | 0 – 1 | |
| 1.6 | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | – | Zhuang, Yongzhe | 1645 | 0 – 1 | ||
Round 8 –
Our round 8 opponents were Uzbekistan whose board 1 despite only having a 1666 rating had beaten two GMs in the event already. Allan and Olivia played excellent matches and won their games but unfortunately the rest of us lost.
Final Score Wales 2 – Uzbekistan 4
| Bo. | 8 | Wales | Rtg | – | 10 | Uzbekistan | Rtg | 2 : 4 |
| 5.1 | Garcia, Jason | 2067 | – | FM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 1666 | 0 – 1 | |
| 5.2 | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | – | Rakhmatullaev, Almas | 1967 | 1 – 0 | ||
| 5.3 | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | – | Salimova, Asal | 1700 | 1 – 0 | |
| 5.4 | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | – | Malikova, Marjona | 1592 | 0 – 1 | ||
| 5.5 | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | – | CM | Begmuratov, Khumoyun | 1887 | 0 – 1 | |
| 5.6 | Ray, Hiya | 1542 | – | WFM | Khegay, Yuliya | 1600 | 0 – 1 |
Round 9 –
Our last round opponents were Austria who had GM Markus Ragger 2630 on board 1. This was a match that got away from us as Julie had a fantastic win and Susanna and Olivia enjoyed good draws. Jon played brilliantly against Markus Ragger and got himself into a rook and pawn ending with an extra pawn. Unfortunately, with a few seconds left Jon blundered and eventually lost.
Final Score Austria 4 – Wales 2
| Bo. | 2 | Austria | Rtg | – | 8 | Wales | Rtg | 4 : 2 |
| 2.1 | GM | Ragger, Markus | 2630 | – | FM | Blackburn, Jonathan L B |
2195 | 1 – 0 |
| 2.2 | IM | Froewis, Georg | 2484 | – | Pleasants, Allan J | 2092 | 1 – 0 | |
| 2.3 | WFM | Polterauer, Chiara | 2057 | – | WFM | Smith, Olivia | 1957 | ½ – ½ |
| 2.4 | WFM | Froewis, Annika | 2092 | – | Wilson, Julie | 1826 | 0 – 1 | |
| 2.5 | FM | Morgunov, Marc | 2182 | – | Fowler, Hugo | 1686 | 1 – 0 | |
| 2.6 | Vicze, Kata | 1662 | – | Fraser, Susanna | 1428 | ½ – ½ |
At least we didn’t finish in 10th place and our win over Iraq meant we finished 9th in our group. The teams promoted to the top division were Latvia, Moldova and Italy.
Final Table
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | – | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 3 | Latvia | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 38,0 | 0 | 99 | 163,8 | |
| 2 | 4 | Moldova | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 35,0 | 0 | 102 | 166,0 | |
| 3 | 1 | Italy | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 36,5 | 0 | 96 | 154,3 | |
| 4 | 5 | Estonia | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 32,5 | 0 | 83 | 138,3 | |
| 5 | 10 | Uzbekistan | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 30,0 | 0 | 91 | 146,8 | |
| 6 | 7 | Malaysia | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 28,0 | 0 | 49 | 82,8 | |
| 7 | 2 | Austria | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 26,0 | 0 | 38 | 74,3 | |
| 8 | 6 | Switzerland | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 22,5 | 0 | 32 | 64,5 | |
| 9 | 8 | Wales | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 11,0 | 0 | 0 | 10,5 | |
| 10 | 9 | Iraq | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 10,5 | 0 | 0 | 0,0 |
This had been an incredibly challenging few days against some incredibly strong opposition with a squad which had limited availability during the 3 days. This resulted in an incredibly tough schedule for some players with for example Julie Wilson playing 8 of the 9 games and both Hugo Fowler and Kimberly Chong playing 7 games. I believe as a squad we overachieved by getting promoted from Division 3 and during the two weeks we managed to win 5 matches 3.5 to 2.5 with contributions coming from all players. The whole event was fantastically organised by the arbiters and it was a pleasure to be part of such a prestigious event. I would like to thank all players for their amazing efforts and I am sure we will all have learned something during our matches.
Thanks for reading
Jason Garcia
Captain
Wales Online Olympiad Team 2021
