Tromsoe Chess Olympiad 2014 Round 9
Spoiling a much better position against Najditsch and even losing in the end was pretty tough, especially as we lost the match against Germany 2.5–1.5.
I wasn’t happy with my play yesterday against Borki Predojevic either, but it was enough to win.
Today we faced Turkey and in the NRK live studio after the game one of the reporters questioned my inspiration. The problem today was rather too much inspiration. In a topical Slav set-up I went for a g4-g5 plan, while missing the strength of Solak’s counterplay a pawn down. Without a safe haven for my king I chose to castle long. He maintained a strong initiative but seemed to panic in time trouble, and after his a3-check I was calling the shots and managed to win the tricky ending. With two draws and a loss on the other boards we drew against Turkey and needs to win tomorrow against Croatia in the penultimate round.
Norway2 came close to another sensation today but lost 2.5–1.5 against Russia in the end.
I look forward to the rest day after tomorrow!