Another day, another GM for me! Well, OK, if you want to split hairs, today it was a WGM, but really - must we get bogged down in the details? I was pressing - or at least I thought I was pressing - for most of the game, but at the crucial moment I overlooked a tempo winning move for my opponent which enabled her to set up a rock solid defence of my big attack against f7. So only a draw, and England 2 went down 2.5-1.5 against the Latvian Women's team. Not a good result. My opponent beat Nona Gaprindashvili a few years back, and has been rated as high as 2236, so her current rating of just 1978 scarcely does her justice. Two of the other boards were drawn, but Geoff James lost with Black on Board 2 which decided the match. Better news of England 1, who beat a German team 3.5-0.5, while top seeds Israel were going down to Hungary in the top match.
In the 50+ section, it was England 1 v England 2, and the match went the expected way, as both John Emms and Nigel Short won, but Glenn Flear held Mickey Adams to a draw in an all GM battle on top board. When I left a few minutes ago, Mark Hebden was turning the screw against Chris Duncan with an extra pawn and a safer king, so I expect it will end up as 3.5-0.5 to the first team. No idea how any of the other top matches went, but England Women (already World Champions as the only female side in the event!) had a very big win over the Oslo club that played England 1 yesterday, and England 3 were in a titanic struggle against USA 5 Brothers (a misnomer this year as there are only 4 brothers present!). The match could go either way with 2 games left.
Oh well, nothing for it but to go and drown my sorrows with a few bottles of Moretti!
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