Olympiad Round 7 -Singapore downs Guatemala 3.5-0.5 as Daniel and Ravindran demonstrate mature play. Mok and Zhuoren keep GM/IM norm aspirations alive! by Junior Tay

The team has been overtly dependant on GM Zhang Zhong to reel in the points in IM Goh Wei Ming's absence but this time, the rest of the members proved their worth with calm displays of endgame strength.

IM Daniel Fernandez probed and cajoled his opponent to weaken his position every so slightly and finally cashed in adroitly when his double Bishops come out in full force.

Ravindran, who in the previous game collapsed after ingesting a hot gambit pawn, demonstrated that he could gambit pawns as well. His opponent chose to decline his continuous offers and invited the Singaporean to play an advantageous ending. Here's how Ravindran patiently waited out Black's self destruction.

Li Ruofan played hesitantly in the opening, allowing Garcia to station his marauding Knights pieces menacingly on the Kingside. As Garcia missed a winning combination, Li pushed him back and stunned him with an excellent Knight sacrifice which paid swift dividends.

Our ever reliable top board GM Zhang Zhong, had to acquice to a draw this time. The gamescore showed him leaving a piece en prise and his opponent failing to take it (even though both were not even in time trouble). So until this is clarified, that's all for the local game analysis.

Meanwhile, Malaysia were edged out 2.5-1.5 by ICSC as IM Mok Tze Meng kept alive his GM norm chances by drawing GM Yehuda Grunfeld. The 2010 Malaysian Champion Lim Zhuoren on the other hand, overpowered IM Sergey Salov to set up his own chances of an IM norm. Mok is on TPR 2530 and Zhuoren on TPR 2404. According to my layman calculations, Mok will need 2.5/3 more against an Average Total Opposition of ELO 2520 (now it's 2530 for him) to attain a GM norm. Zhuoren also needs 2.5/3 more against an Average Total Opposition of ELO 2284 (now it's 2279 for him). Also, he needs to play 2 more title holders (minimum requirement 5 title holders for 9 round IM norm). So basically, for them to make norms, they not only need to perform exceeedingly well, their team members must also do likewise for the norm chasers to get high rated opposition. Intriguing...