Dresden chess olympiad, Round 5

Well, the Malaysian team seems to have recovered from the two consecutive losses, albeit to much stronger teams in the earlier rounds. This time, they were matched against the Dominican Republic.

(Photo: Paul Truong / Susan Polgar)

According to the seedings, they should be rather evenly matched with our team. But they had a grandmaster playing on the first board and two international masters as well. So considering that line-up, it was a good overall display from the Malaysians as they worked out a narrow 2½-1½ win. Jimmy playing fourth board in Dresden is definitely not the same as Jimmy playing first board in Lucerne or some other earlier Olympiads. Our experienced Jimmy is struggling and here, this is his second straight loss. Yee Weng is again demonstrating his super-solid chess as he chalks up his fifth draw in a row! He's our drawing master but there's nothing to fault him for this strategy because his two draws against Germany One and Slovakia ensured that we have not been embarrassed by any 0-4 score yet!

Here are the results on the top 10 tables in the fifth round. Three Asian teams among them. Russia lead the standings with nine match points but breathing down Russia's neck are Armenia, Germany One, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and England which all also have nine match points. Somehow, I do not see how this new system of using match points over game points is working convincingly. It's contributing to some murkiness in the standings - and pairings:

Germany One 2-2 Russia
Armenia 2½-1½ Netherlands
Hungary 1½-2½ Ukraine
Norway 1-3 Azerbaijan
England 2½-1½ Italy
India 3-1 Austria
Poland 3½-½ Costa Rica
China 2½-1½ Scotland
Vietnam 2-2 Cuba
Denmark ½-3½ Israel

And these results showed how the rest of the Asian teams fared in the fifth round:

Uzbekistan 1½-2½ Moldova
Greece 3-1 Kazakhstan
Philippines 2½-1½ Iran
USA 4-0 Hongkong
Yemen 2-2 Canada
Bangladesh 3½-½ Albania
Iraq 2-2 Belgium
Wales ½-3½ Pakistan
Mongolia 4-0 Libya
New Zealand 3-1 UAE
Indonesia 2½-1½ Macedonia
Puerto Rico 2-2 Kyrgyzstan
Qatar 3-1 Trinidad & Tobago
Malaysia 2½-1½ Dominican Republic
IPCA 2½-1½ Syria
Australia 2½-1½ Singapore
Lebanon 2½-1½ Ecuador
Japan 2½-1½ Tajikistan
Turkmenistan 1½-2½ Ireland
Jordan 1-3 Uruguay
Germany Three 3½-½ Thailand
Palestine 3-1 San Marino
South Korea ½-3½ Mexico
Macau 3-1 Mozambique
Sri Lanka 2-2 Nepal
Madagascar 0-4 Afghanistan
Papua New Guinea 2½-1½ British Virgin Islands
Chinese Taipei 2-2 Rwanda

Our representatives in Dresden, Round Five: (left to right) Mas Hafizulhelmi, Lim Yee Weng, Mok Tze Meng and Jimmy Liew

At Table 41, these are the results of the Malaysia versus Dominican Republic match:

IM Mas Hafizulhelmi 2439 - GM Mateo Ramon 2487 1-0
FM Lim Yee-Weng 2396 - IM Dominguez Jose M 2345 1/2
FM Mok Tze-Meng 2308 - IM Hernandez Gustavo 2360 1-0
IM Liew Chee-Meng-Jimmy 2306 - Jaquez Juan 2223 0-1

Next up in the sixth round tomorrow night tonight: a match against Slovenia on Table 18. My question: will Jimmy be rested? Anyway, good luck to them!