10:08 am EST. Today we have 2 battles between David and Goliath. Men are playing with Macau and women with Slovenia ( former Yugoslavia, it gives you an idea about level ).  Women look OK for now, but the class often shows later in the game, let’s hope for a miracle. 2nd board, Yuan Yuanling, sacrificed already 2 pawns and has initiative, difficult to say how strong it is. 1st board, Natalia Khoudgarian has, actually, good position with her +350 opponent. But I just noticed she has one hour less on the clock.

Maybe some regular noticed, that I make more comments about women, than men. The reason is simple ( it’s not that I am a woman :) ) – I know 3 out of 5 team members and in men’s team I know only one.

Yuan Yuanling and Dina Kagramanov - I played once with each ( lost, but got at least 30 moves :) ).  The last 2 are Natalia Khoudgarian – she and her husband taught chess to my kids and Nikolay Noritsyn – Canadian Champion. I saw once how he played – I could never guess his moves.  

can_team1

11:30am. So far results as expected – men 3:0, women – 0:1.

12:50pm.  Women – 0:2 and looks like it will be 1:3. 

GMs I watched: Kamsky – Leko and Kramnik – Aronian drew.

2:00pm.  Women – 0:5-3:5.