It was inevitable that Professor Elo should be proved right today, and that 2 random chess players from Kenilworth should lose against 2 random IMs from Sweden and Belgium who each enjoyed a sizeable rating superiority.
Andy put up the better fight against Belgian Jan Rooze, having a safe equality for a long time and then missing a near forced but very long line that would have netted him a piece for several pawns. Stockfish gives him a very small edge at the end of the line, but White would have been in no danger of losing. And once again, Andy's England 3 team went down by the minimum margin to stronger opposition. Tomorow they play the world champion Mongolian ladies team, which should make for interesting viewing!
I lost against the Swede Nils-Gustaf Renman. He played a bad move in the opening which I met with a Stockfish approved pawn sac to get the 2 bishops and mess up White's kingside pawns. Annoyingly, though, there was an even better move, which I saw, but misjudged and rejected. In the game I went wrong and started to come under some strong pressure almost immediately, but I defended rather well, as my opponent seemed to dither a bit. However, short of time I went wrong and allowed a nice, but very simple, tactic that gave him 2 passed pawns and as my knight could only stop one of them, I had to resign. England 2 also went down by the minimum score, and now face Wales tomorrow. (As do England 2 in the 50+ section.)
Elsewhere, England 1 tomorrow find themselves against the top seeds and defending champions in both categories, with the 50+ team taking on USA, and the 65+ team facing Russia (who only scraped home today.) An exciting day is in prospect!
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