Round 2

(I wrote the following after the game last night, but couldn’t get internet until this morning.)

10pm (and -9 degrees) here on a peaceful Siberian Sunday night, and I am buggered. By way of update, I am grimly clinging on to my spot in the tournament, managing to hold a 95-move ending against our Cuban protagonist. Tomorrow sees a gruelling tiebreak arrangement: four rapid games (roughly half an hour per player), and if scores are still level, up to ten blitz games (roughly five minutes per player). If there’s still nothing separating the players, we go to the infamous ‘armageddon’ play-off.

For my part, I’m just glad to be a part of the action. There’ll be a bunch of exciting play-offs tomorrow, and the matches promise tension and drama. Unfortunately (fortunately?), I won’t be able to spectate much, seeing as I’ll be trying to create an upset in my own mini-series. Hopefully it too will be exciting, though poor Fi’s nerves were shot while watching today – who knew she’d be so enthralled watching chess?!

Meanwhile, most of the top seeds cruised through to the second round, while there were a few upsets along the way as well. Keep an eye out on the Chinese players; they’ve had a successful start to the comp, and don’t be surprised to see a few of them hanging around the quarter finals.