The FIDE Olympiad is well underway in Bled, Slovenia. The biggest event in the international chess calendar is a large, sprawling event where the best in the world are side by side with ordinary mortals.

After four rounds Russia, Poland and Armenia all have 13 points out of a maximum of 16. I really have no doubt that the Russian team of Kasparov, Khalifman, Svidler, Morozevich, Grischuk and Rublevsky have far too much power over the 14 rounds of the event for the rest of the teams but we can look forward to some great chess on the way.

Garry Kasparov's return to the FIDE fold after the Prague agreement has opened the way to his return to the Olympiad. Kasparov's last Olympiad was in 1996 in Yerevan. Kasparov seems to enjoy playing these events and always plays a good number of matches. I'm sure Kasparov also understands the political advantage of playing the Olympiad too. In the past the key FIDE decisions about Bobby Fischer's career took place against the background of the Olympiad. Fischer's participation in the 1970 Olympiad was key to the finding of a solution to his participation in the World Championships which he eventually won. He'd missed the US Zonal and officially he had missed his chance, a solution was found. Fischer did not play in 1974 and his proposals for the defence of his title were rejected. Not least because he hadn't played since winning. Perhaps this is a painful lesson that Kramnik will learn. Not present in Bled he has issued an open letter to the FIDE Congress outlining a number of issues that are worrying him. If he was playing I think he would have a far greater chance of being heard. Indeed the FIDE Congress which starts next week could be the most interesting since the scandalous 1994 Congress in Moscow.

If the teams gold medal in the men's olympiad is a near forgone conclusion there is plenty to be settled elsewhere. The Ukraine probably won't challenge for the gold medal but they possess two great players at the top of their lineup, FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and the man he defeated Vassily Ivanchuk. Ponomariov won a gold medal for his results in the last Olympiad and his performance here is bound to come under scrutiny. In particular there is the potential for a Kasparov - Ponomariov matchup at some point.

Garry Kasparov may be a Russian now but he was born in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani team is amazing, Teimour Radjabov 15, Shariyaz Mamedzarov 17, Vugar Gashimov 16 and Kadir Guseinov 16 played in round 3. They're all strong players and their progress this time is going to be fascinating to see. Not to mention that this is a good basis for a team for the next 15 years.

Hungary with Peter Leko, Judit Polgar and Zoltan Almasi at least on paper should be challengers for medals. Russia are playing Armenia as I write this and in spite of being 9th seeds they have a very consistant record in Olympiads and I expect them to do well. England have Michael Adams on top board supported by the experienced Nigel Short and Jon Speelman. Luke McShane is England's hope for the future although it looks like he will go to University next year.

Viktor Korchnoi a veteran of Olympiads and indeed life is top board for Switzerland and there is a hope he may meet some of the leading players in the following rounds. Israel and the Netherlands both have solid teams and are 4th and 5th seeds respectively. The home side Slovenia A are 13th seeds and will no doubt be hoping they can perform better than that. 24th seeds India had a tremendous Olympiad last time. They have a young and improving team headed by up and coming players Harikrishna and Sasikiran. Its a shame that they have had to do without their top player Viswanathan Anand who for whatever reason hasn't played an Olympiad in years.

The Olympiad must be horrendous to organise. I get dizzy just trying to follow it. The organisers had their problems in the early rounds, the website didn't have live games for the first two rounds and India's first round result was misreported so they were paired incorrectly in the second. I was deeply pessimistic about the web coverage but its now getting good. http://www.35chessolympiad.com/ is well worth a visit and in the last couple of rounds I've had no problem connecting. [Latest: Round 5 they seemed to have problems with the live games again]

The number of games played each round is mind boggling. Its hard enough to keep track of the leading teams never mind anything else. I've selected a few games that caught my eye. I'll try and write something regular about the event, if anyone sees any wonderful games that haven't caught my eye please let me know at: mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk

Kasparov,G (2838) - Aleksandrov,A (2621) [D38]
Olympiad Bled SLO (2), 27.10.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.e3 0-0 9.Bd3 c4 10.Bb1 [ 10.Bc2 Nbd7 11.0-0 Qa5 12.Rc1 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Qxa2 14.Nd2 Qa6 15.f3 b5 16.e4 Qb6 17.e5 Nxe5 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.f4 Ng4 20.Re1 f5 21.Nf1 Qg6 22.Ra1 a6 23.h3 Nf6 24.Re5 Be6 25.Ne3 Qg3 26.Qd2 Ne4 27.Bxe4 dxe4 28.Rf1 Rfe8 29.d5 Bd7 30.Rxe8+ Rxe8 31.d6 Rd8 32.Qd4 Be6 33.Qb6 Rd7 34.Qc5 Kg7 35.Qe5+ Kg8 36.Nc2 Qd3 37.Nd4 Qxc3 38.Qc5 Kh7 39.Nxf5 Qf6 40.Ne3 c3 41.Rd1 a5 42.f5 Bc4 43.Re1 c2 44.Nxc2 Bd3 45.Ne3 Qxd6 46.Qc1 h5 47.Qd2 a4 48.Qf2 Qh6 49.Rd1 a3 1/2-1/2 Sokolov,I-Aleksandrov,A/Poikovsky RUS 2002/The Week in Chess 388 (49). ] 10...Nbd7 11.0-0 Qa5 12.Qc2 Bxc3 13.Qxc3 Qxc3 14.bxc3 Kasparov goes for a tiny positional advantage. 14...Re8 15.Nd2 Nh5 16.a4 Ndf6 17.Bc2 Bd7 18.Rfe1 g5 19.Bg3 Nxg3 20.hxg3 Re6 21.f3 Rb6 22.Reb1 Rb8 23.e4 Rxb1+ 24.Rxb1 b5 25.e5 Ne8 26.Nf1 Nc7 27.Ne3 a5 28.axb5 Rxb5 29.Ra1 a4 30.Rxa4 Rb1+ 31.Bxb1 Bxa4 32.Kf2 Bc6 33.Ke2 h5 34.f4 g4 35.Kd2 Kf8 36.Kc1 Ne6 37.f5 Nc7 38.f6 Ba4 39.Kb2 Ke8 40.Ka3 Black is paralysed.

1-0

Sasikiran,K (2670) - Kasparov,G (2838) [D15]
Olympiad Bled SLO (3), 28.10.2002

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bd2 Qc7 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Ndf6 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Ne5 g6 13.Qf3 Rd8 14.Be3 Ng7 [ 14...Nd5 15.Bc4 Nhf6 16.0-0 Bg7 17.Rac1 0-0 18.Qe2 Qc8 19.Na4 Nc7 20.b3 Nfd5 21.Rfd1 Nxe3 22.Nb6 Bxc4 23.bxc4 Qf5 24.Qxe3 Bxe5 25.Qxe5 Qxe5 26.dxe5 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 Ne6 28.Rd7 Rd8 29.Kf1 Rxd7 30.Nxd7 Kg7 31.Ke2 f5 32.exf6+ exf6 33.Ke3 Kf7 34.f4 Ke7 35.Nb6 Nxc5 36.Kd4 Nd7 37.Nc8+ Ke6 38.c5 g5 39.Nd6 b5 40.g3 gxf4 41.gxf4 Nf8 42.Ke4 Nd7 1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B-Magem Badals,J/Pamplona ESP 2000 (42). ] 15.Bc4 Bxc4 16.Nxc4 Ne6 17.0-0 Bg7 18.Rfd1 I'm not sure where Sasikiran is going with this position. 18...0-0 19.Rac1 Nd5 20.Nxd5 Rxd5 21.Nb6 Starting complications that don't work well. 21...Nxd4 22.Qg4 h5 23.Nxd5 cxd5 24.Qg5 Ne2+ 25.Kf1 Nxc1 26.Rxc1 Kasparov now has a winning position. 26...e5 27.b3 Re8 28.Bd2 Qc6 29.Qe3 d4 30.Qe2 e4 31.Bf4 Qf6 32.Bd6 Bh6 33.Rd1 Re6 34.Kg1 d3 35.Qf1 e3 36.fxe3 Bxe3+ 37.Kh1 Qxf1+ 38.Rxf1 d2

0-1

Van den Doel,E (2594) - Sakalauskas,V (2450) [C11]
Olympiad Bled SLO (3), 28.10.2002

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.Bd3 b6 11.Qe2 Bb7 12.h4 Nf6 13.Neg5 Bxf3 14.Nxf3 Qd6 15.Ne5 c5 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Kb1 Bd6 18.Nc4 Rfd8 19.g4 Bf8 20.Nd2 Qb4 21.Ne4 Nxe4 22.Bxe4 Rac8 23.h5 Be7 24.a3 Qc5 25.f4 Qc7 26.Qf3 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 Rd8 28.Bd3 Rd5 29.Re1 Rd4 30.f5 e5 31.h6 f6 32.hxg7 Bd8 33.g5 Qxg7 34.g6 h6 35.Bc4+ Kh8 36.Bf7 Qf8 37.Rh1 Kg7 38.Qh3 Qh8 39.Ba2 Be7 40.Qb3 Qe8 41.c3 Rd8 42.Qc4

Black's been in desperate trouble for some time. This move contains a threat. 42...Bc5 43.Rxh6! 1-0

Radjabov,T (2628) - Estrada Nieto,J (2345) [D20]
Olympiad Bled SLO (3), 28.10.2002

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Nc6 6.0-0 a6 7.Bd5 Nb4 8.Qxd4 Nxd5 9.exd5 Nf6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Re1+ Kf8 13.Ne5 Qd6 14.Nc3 Bf5 15.f4 h5 16.Rad1 g6 17.h3 h4 18.Qf2 Kg7 19.Nc4 Qb4 20.Ne3 Rae8

21.d6 A nice clearance sacrifice. 21...cxd6 22.Ncd5 Qxb2 23.Re2 Qa3 24.Nxf6 Kxf6 25.Nd5+ Kg7 26.Qd4+ Kh6 27.Qf6 Rhf8 28.Qxh4+ Kg7 29.Qf6+ Kg8 [ 29...Kh6 was the brave choice here.] 30.Ne7+ Kh7 31.Kh2 Bd7 32.Rxd6 Bb5 33.Qh4+ Kg7 34.Nf5+ Kg8 35.Qf6

Mate is unavoidable. 1-0

Gallagher,J (2540) - Turpanov,M (2386) [B01]
Olympiad Bled SLO (3), 28.10.2002

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nf6 9.h4 Nbd7 10.Nc4 Qc7 11.h5 Be4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Qf3 Nd6 14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Ne5 Nd5 16.Bg3 Qa5+ 17.c3 e6 18.Be2 Be7 19.Kf1 f5 20.Nc4 Nxc4 21.Bxc4 0-0 22.gxf5 exf5 23.Re1 Qd8 24.Be5 Bg5 25.Rg1 h6 26.Qg3 Rf7 27.f4 Bh4 28.Qg6 Qd7 29.Re2 Raf8 30.Qxh6 Bf6 31.Qg6 Bxe5 32.fxe5 Nf4

White is of course winning. This is a bit embarrassing however. 33.Qxg7# 1-0

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Qc2 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.e3 Bxf1 12.Kxf1 c5 13.Kg2 Nd7 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.Rhd1 Nf6 16.Bc3 Ne4 17.Rac1 Qd6 18.Ba5 Qa6 19.Rxd5 Nxf2 20.Qxf2 Qxa5 21.e4 Qb6 22.Ne5 Qh6 23.Rf1 f6 24.Nd7 Rfe8 25.e5 Qh5 26.Qd2 Bf8

Overlooking something not very nice. 27.Rxf6 Qg4 28.Qd3 Rac8 29.Rh6 1-0

Kasparov,G (2838) - Mchedlishvili,M (2551) [B63]
Olympiad Bled SLO (4), 29.10.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Qb6 8.0-0-0 Qxd4 9.Qxd4 Nxd4 10.Rxd4 Getting the queen's off is by no means the end of black's troubles. Kasparov is a very precise player. 10...a6 11.f3 Bd7 12.Na4 Bc6 13.Nb6 Rd8 14.Nc4 Be7 15.Na5 Rc8 16.Rb4 d5 17.Nxc6 bxc6 White is more active, has queenside weaknesses to play at and black's position lacks dynamism. 18.Rb7 Nd7 19.Bd2 Ra8 20.Rc7 Ne5 21.Bc3 Bd6 22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Rxc6 dxe4 24.Rxa6 Rxa6 25.Bxa6 exf3 26.gxf3 Ke7 White's pawns prove to be terribly fast. 27.a4 Rd8 28.h3 Rd4 29.Bb5 Rf4 30.Rd1 Rxf3 31.a5 Rf5 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rb7 Bf4+ 34.Kb1 Be3 35.a6 Rd5 36.b4 Rd8 37.c4 Black hasn't even started moving his pawns.

1-0

Polgar,J (2685) - Mamedyarov,S (2580) [C80]
Olympiad Bled SLO (4), 29.10.2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.Ng5 Bd5 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.Qf3+ Ke6 14.Qg4+ Kf7?

Varying from a SuperGM game should only be done with great care. [ 14...Ke7 15.e6 Bxe6 16.Re1 Qd7 17.Bxe6 Nxe6 18.Nf3 Re8 19.Ng5 Ncd8 20.Bd2 h6 21.Nf3 Qd5 22.Re5 Qd6 23.cxd4 h5 24.Qe4 Kf7 25.d5 Kg8 26.Qg6 Re7 27.Rae1 Nd4 28.Qxd6 Nxf3+ 29.gxf3 cxd6 30.Rxe7 Bxe7 31.Rxe7 Nf7 32.Ra7 h4 33.Ra8+ Kh7 34.Rxa6 Kg6 35.Rb6 Rc8 36.Rxb5 Rc2 37.Bc3 h3 38.Kf1 Ng5 39.Rb7 Nxf3 40.Rxg7+ Kf5 41.Rg3 Ke4 42.Rxh3 Rc1+ 43.Ke2 Rxc3 44.bxc3 Ng1+ 45.Kf1 Nxh3 46.a4 Kxd5 47.Kg2 Ng5 48.h4 Ne4 49.h5 Ke6 50.c4 Nd2 51.a5 Nxc4 52.a6 Nb6 53.a7 Kf5 54.f4 Na8 55.Kf3 d5 56.Ke3 Nc7 57.Kd2 Kf6 58.Kc2 Kf5 59.Kb3 d4 60.Kc4 Kf6 61.Kd3 Kf5 62.Ke2 Kf6 63.Kf2 Kf5 64.Kf3 Na8 65.Ke2 Nc7 66.Kd3 Kf6 67.Ke4 Kf7 68.f5 Kf6 69.h6 Kf7 1/2-1/2 Svidler,P-Anand,V/Dos Hermanas ESP 1999 (69). ] 15.Qf5+ Ke7 16.e6 Bxe6 17.Re1 Qd6 18.Bxe6 Nxe6 19.Ne4 Qe5 20.Bg5+ Kd7 21.Nc5+ Bxc5 22.Qf7+ Kd6 23.Be7+ Kd5 24. Qf3+ is curtains. 1-0

Ponomariov,R (2743) - Vallejo Pons,F (2635) [C67]
Olympiad Bled SLO (4), 29.10.2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 Be7 11.Bf4 Be6 12.a3 Rd8 13.Rad1 h6 14.Rfe1 a6 15.Ne4 Rd5 16.g4 Nh4 17.Nxh4 Bxh4 18.Bg3 Be7 19.Nc3 Rxd1 20.Rxd1 h5 21.f3 b5 22.Kg2 a5 23.Ne2 hxg4 24.hxg4 Bc5 25.Nf4 g6 26.Nd3 Be7 27.Be1 a4 28.Ba5 Bd8 29.Nb4 Bd7 30.Na6 Bc8 31.Nxc7+ Bxc7 32.Bxc7 Bd7 33.b3 axb3 34.cxb3 Ke7 35.Bd6+ Kd8 36.a4 Be6 37.Ra1 Kd7 38.b4 bxa4 39.Rxa4 Rh7 40.Ra7+ Kd8 41.Ra1 Kc8 42.Kg3 Bd5 43.f4 Rh1 44.Ra7 Rg1+ 45.Kh4 Be6 46.f5 gxf5 47.gxf5 Bxf5 48.Rxf7 Rg4+ 49.Kh3 Be6 50.Re7 Rg6+ 51.Kh4 Bd5 52.Kh5 Re6 53.Rg7 Re8 54.Ra7 Rg8 55.Kh6 Kd8 56.Be7+ Ke8 57.Bg5 Kf8 58.Rc7 Ke8 59.e6

Ponomariov has tortured Vallejo in a miserable position for a long time. Now he breaks through. 59...Bxe6 60.Re7+ Kd8 61.Rxe6+ Kd7 62.Re4 Kd6 63.Be7+ Kd5 64.Rf4 Ke5 65.Rf1 Rg2 66.Bc5 Ke6 67.Rd1 1-0

Stefansson,H (2566) - Adams,M (2745) [C88]
Olympiad Bled SLO (4), 29.10.2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 Re8 10.Nbd2 Bf8 11.Nf1 Na5 12.Ba2 h6 13.Ne3 c5 14.Nh4 d5 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.Qh5 c4 17.dxc4 Nf4 18.Qg4 h5 19.Qg3 bxc4 20.Nf3 h4 21.Qxh4 Bxf3 22.Qxd8 Rexd8 23.gxf3 Rac8 24.Ng2 Nh3+ 25.Kf1 c3 26.bxc3 Rxc3 27.Ne3 Nc6 28.Rb1 Rd7 29.Rb3 Rxb3 30.Bxb3 Nd4 31.Rd1 Rc7 32.Nd5 Rb7 33.Rxd4

Hands up those who saw that black's knight is now trapped. 33...exd4 34.Kg2 Nxf2 [ 34...d3 was probably the way to resist but Adams panics.] 35.Kxf2 d3 36.Ke3 dxc2 37.Bxc2 Bc5+ 38.Ke2 Rd7 39.Bb3 Rd6 40.Bc4 Kf8 41.Bd2 Rc6 42.Kd3 Rd6 43.a5 Rc6 44.h3 Rg6 45.Nc7 Rg3 46.Bd5 Rxh3 47.Nxa6 Bg1 48.Nb4 Rh4 49.a6 Ke7 50.Bg5+ 1-0

Mecking,H (2548) - Pace,C (2171) [A65]
Olympiad Bled SLO (4), 29.10.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 Nbd7 10.Be2 a6 11.a4 Rb8 12.0-0 h5 13.Be3 Nh7 14.Qd2 Qe8 15.Rfe1 h4 16.Nh1 f5 17.Nf2 Be5 18.Nd3 Bxc3 19.bxc3 fxe4 20.fxe4 Qxe4 21.Nf2 Qe8 22.Bh6 Rf5 23.Bg4 Re5 24.Be6+ Kh8 25.Ng4 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Ndf6 27.Bg7+

Its nice to see Mecking back. Of course he's playing a very weak opponent and this isn't strictly necessary. 27...Kxg7 28.Qh6+ Kh8 29.Nxf6 Qe7 30.Nxh7 1-0