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Second Round: Thirsting for Blood on Thursday! |
 As ingeniously predicted in the report of the previous round all matches were close today. The first seed Russia beat Lithuania 2,5-1,5 but it was a rather Pyrrhic victory, especially in a tournament where game points are taken into consideration as the first criteria. It was also the same story for Australia-A against Greece on the second board. The effort of Justin Tan on the second board against Theodorou was especially notable as he forced his opponent's king to a walk in the middle of the board only to be mated at the other side.
Among the leaders it was only Poland who gained an advantage after this morning as they beat the strong Peruvian team which also makes a case for gender equality by having two boys and two girls in the team squad, 3,5-0,5. The only remaining teams with a perfect score, Armenia-Turkey,Red and Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan exchanged two wins apiece to make a friendly tie.
The favorites who have lost some points in the first round were able to gain ground in today’s round. India swept England off the board with 4-0 and Iran beat Georgia 3,5-0,5 to climb up in the rankings. In the Czechoslovakian derby it was Slovakia-A who gained the victory, but only by a hair’s breadth: 2,5-1,5. Another notable result came from the clash of two Turkish teams,Turkuaz (Turquoise) and White and in this battle of colors Turquoise arose as proud victors with 4-0, exactly when the Day of Victory is celebrated in Turkey!
The next round will begin on 16.30 today. |
