And of course, congratulations to Russia on 1st place.

http://startuptown.wordpress.com/20...

The implication is rather strong...

Sounds like one very talented youngster I knew who was relentlessly pushed by his parents to achieve--whatever he did, it was not enough.

(Aurore Itangishaka from Burundi chess team)

The Aussies were 51 & improved, the Scots were 52 & did badly in the last 2 rds & dropped. Its may be not a good idea to play in all the rds as Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant did.

Here there were two quite odd things which are not really what you expect statistically - both died on the same day, and both were not that old (67 and 45)

says that <two participants dying is unprecedented in the history of the [Chess] Olympiads> and also implies quite strongly that it was organizers' fault.

This was the strongest O ever!!!

Bottom line: this Natalia Pogonina does not exactly make a good impression.

Not much one can do however for a cool trip outside to use the porta potties. 170 countries and not enough bathrooms.

I remember going to Wolftrap and watching three lines for the women's rooms and one for the men's and seeing the one go much faster than the other three combined, but even in a casual place sometimes women dress in inconvenient ways to go to the opera. Attire was mostly a lot more utilitarian at the olympiad, which would even up the times some.

I used to live in Inuvik (Canada), and it was warm in the summer.

They make Canadians look like woosies.

It is interesting seeing the Austrian champs this year where the weather, is a similar issue. It is just a little warmer than it was in Tromso. Last year it was about as hot as Austria ever gets for the event in Vorarlberg, so the attire is not quite the same this time around. Austrian tournaments always seem to be rather casual, but it's very different this time around. When it is 34C outside the vibe is different from 17C like this year.

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