The final round of the Samarkand Olympiad is under way: Serbia faces Azerbaijan in the Open and Austria in the Women’s section. Round eleven began today, 27 September, at 08:00 in Serbia (CEST), or 11:00 in Samarkand. Official schedule
An apology from the author: I like my sleep, so this preview arrives with the players already well into their games. Luckily, the best is still to come. Coffee is ready, the links are below, and there is still plenty of chess to follow together.
When checked at around 09:37 Serbian time, all eight Serbian games were still in progress. Pairings below are in board order, White first, with tournament ratings. Each Serbian player’s link opens the individual game on Lichess; follow the broadcast for the latest position and result.
Open: Serbia - Azerbaijan, match 5
- Alexey Sarana (2666) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2720). Alexey Sarana plays White. Open game: Alexey Sarana
- Aydin Suleymanli (2664) - Aleksandar Inđić (2598). Aleksandar Inđić plays Black. Open game: Aleksandar Inđić
- Alexandr Predke (2598) - Mahammad Muradli (2653). Alexandr Predke plays White. Open game: Alexandr Predke
- Eltaj Safarli (2616) - Bojan Maksimović (2534). Bojan Maksimović plays Black. Open game: Bojan Maksimović
Open the group broadcast · Official line-ups and board results
Women: Serbia - Austria, match 14
- Alina Bivol (2345) - Olga Badelka (2424). Alina Bivol plays White. Open game: Alina Bivol
- Jasmin-Denise Schloffer (2236) - Elif Mehmed (2316). Elif Mehmed plays Black. Open game: Elif Mehmed
- Jovana Srdanović (2298) - Chiara Polterauer (2083). Jovana Srdanović plays White. Open game: Jovana Srdanović
- Emilia Deak-Sala (2105) - Sofia Pogorelskikh (2244). Sofia Pogorelskikh plays Black. Open game: Sofia Pogorelskikh
Open the group broadcast · Official line-ups and board results
Same line-ups, different challenges
Both Serbian teams retain yesterday’s line-ups. Velimir Ivić and Teodora Injac sit out, while Sarana, Predke, Bivol and Srdanović have White today.
Azerbaijan has a rating advantage on all four boards. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leads the team, followed by Aydin Suleymanli, Mahammad Muradli and Eltaj Safarli. Serbia entered the round 13th, Azerbaijan seventh, both on 15 match points. The difference in places therefore does not reflect a difference in match points: today they compete directly for the same step up. Standings after ten rounds
Against Austria, Serbia outrates its opponents on three of the four boards. The exception is board one, where Alina Bivol faces Olga Badelka, the highest-rated player in today’s Austrian line-up. Serbia’s women entered the round 27th on 13 match points, with Austria 34th on the same total. Sofia Pogorelskikh won in each of the previous four rounds; today she tries to extend that run with Black. Women’s standings after ten rounds
What are we hoping for?
An Open-team win brings 17 match points and guarantees a top-nine finish, given the published final-round pairings. A draw means 16 points, a loss 15. Before play began, even bronze remained mathematically possible, but only with an exceptionally favourable combination of other results and tie-breaks. That is an extreme possibility, not a prediction based on the positions now being played.
A Women’s-team win brings 15 match points, a draw 14, a loss 13. The best theoretical scenario before the round led to tenth place; our hopeful target is a win and a return to the top twenty. The match-point total alone does not guarantee that position either.
Our earlier opponents’ results today also affect the first tie-break, Olympiad Sonneborn–Berger. We will therefore wait for the relevant matches to finish before giving Serbia’s final places. FIDE regulations, Appendix 2
Yesterday’s results, standings and a fuller explanation of the scenarios are in our round-ten report. For now, open your favourite board and cheer Serbia on. The author is finally awake.