Canada vs. USA:

A match against the USA is never easy, almost no matter what the sport. Today our side faced three international masters (IMs) and a grandmaster (GM), and their lowest-rated player outrated our highest by 60 points.

Speaking of Maili-Jade, today she initiated a long sequence of exchanges straight out of the opening that led to a flavourless draw, to which her opponent apparently did not object. It’s difficult to play for a win with Black when facing such a strategy. Maili-Jade was probably our best chance for a victory in the match, but her approach might also have been a prudent one, and I certainly would not criticize, because in the end the half-point she scored for that draw was the only one that Canada managed.

Both Bich Ngoc and Yunshan fell to tactical shoot-outs in their respective middlegames, while Oksana had a heartbreaking game, possibly even more painful than Svitlana’s from yesterday (she sat today). So far, I can’t say enough about how dominant Oksana’s positional play has been. Today she had her much-stronger IM opponent on the ropes. There was even a forced checkmating sequence on the board, and it wasn’t some fluke combination, but a natural pathway to converting Oksana’s massive strategic advantage in the position. What followed was basically like a striker in soccer hitting the goalpost of an empty net, after completely beating the defense and the keeper. But it happens. Anyway, the match was certainly closer than the final 0.5-3.5 score indicates, and Canada is due for some good luck in the rounds to come.

Current record: 2-1 (7/12), =46th with Italy, Belgium, and Australia. Next opponent: Scotland.

Our Open team beat the Czech Republic today, with another win by Razvan and one by reigning Canadian Champion Shiyam Thavandiran (who captained the women’s team when we were in Chennai!). Apparently Canada’s overperformance so far has earned the team the nickname “giant-killers,” bestowed by none other than legendary super-grandmaster Peter Svidler during live commentary earlier today.

1. Oksana’s strategic near-masterpiece