England's promising start faltered slightly as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Norway, the surprise team of the event. England still remain well placed with three match wins and a draw but the situation looked promising until the fifth hour of play when Michael Adams' position deteriorated and he lost again to Magnus Carlsen with black. Nigel Short's cautious approach against Simen Agdestein had got him nowhere but the younger players were looking good.

David Howell won another tactical struggle with Black and demonstrated how to deal with the suggestion I made for White in Friday's paper. Your correspondent learnt something. Despite Adams' reverse a match win still looked possible but Gawain Jones was unable to convert the advantage of an extra pawn in the endgame and so honours were shared.

Many readers will remember how wonderfully Matthew Sadler used to play for England particularly with the black pieces. We can only hope that Howell can emulate his achievements.

Scotland's reward for victories over the International Blind Chess Association and Puerto Rico was a fourth round match against Canada. On paper this match was very tight but Jonathan Rowson got the Scots off to a fine start with a crushing win on top board and they are well placed on 6/8. Teams receive two points for a match win and one for a 2-2 draw.

L Johannessen - D Howell Chess Olympiad Dresden (4)

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qh4 Bc6 7.Qd4

7.Ne5 Bg7 8.Nxc6 Nxc6 9.e3 e6 Schandorff-Howell round 2

7...Rg8!

7...f6 8.e4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Qxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxe4? 11.Ne6!

8.Ne5 e6 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Qa4 Qd7

Black can tolerate the inconvenience of Rg8 as he castles queenside

11.e3 0-0-0 12.Be2

12.Bb5 Ndb4 13.d4 a6 14.a3 axb5 15.Qa8+ Nb8 is unclear

12...Ndb4! 13.0-0

13.d4 Nxd4 14.Qxa7 is also a mess

13...Nd3

White's king is safer but his development is hampered by this mighty steed

14.b4 Kb8 15.b5 Nce5 16.f4 Nxc1 17.Raxc1 Nd3 18.Bxd3 Qxd3 19.Ne4 f5 20.Ng5 Qxd2 21.Nf7

Black is doing well and White makes an error in calculation if 21.Rfd1? Qxe3+

21...Rd5! 22.b6 axb6 23.Qe8+ Ka7 24.Nh6 Ba3! 25.Nxg8 Qxe3+ 26.Kh1 Bxc1 27.Ne7 Qxf4! 28.Rg1

28.Rxf4 Rd1+ 29.Rf1 Rxf1 mate

28...Ba3! 29.Nxd5 exd5 30.Qd7 Bd6 31.Qxh7 d4

White's queen is tied to the defence of h2 so the d pawn advances

32.g3 Qe4+ 33.Rg2 d3 0-1

M Bluvshtein - J Rowson Chess Olympiad Dresden (4)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nh5 7.g3

Preventing Qh4+

7...f5 8.e4 d6 9.f4?

I would prefer 9.Nh3 Nf6 10.Nf2

9...Nf6 10.e5 Ne4 11.Ne2 b6!

A typical Nimzo Indian disaster for White who has to go to great lengths to defend c4

12.Bg2 Ba6 13.Qb3 Nc6

Threat Nc6-a5

14.c5 d5 15.cxb6 cxb6 16.Qc2

16.Ra2 Bc4; 16.0-0 Bxe2 are disastrous

16...Rc8 17.Bb2

Castling is still impossible 17.0-0 Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Nxc3 19.Qd3 Nxd4 20.Qxd4 Ne2+

17...Na5 18.Bxe4 dxe4 19.0-0 Qd5 20.Bc1 e3! 21.Bxe3 Bb7 22.Kf2 Qf3+ 0-1

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Round 3 Results 15th Nov 2008. 2pm GMT start.
Br.	1	RUS Russia (RUS)	Elo	3½: ½	16	CUB Cuba (CUB)	Elo
1.1	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	½ - ½	GM	Dominguez Perez Leinier	2719
1.2	GM	Svidler Peter	2727	1 - 0	GM	Bruzon Batista Lazaro	2623
1.3	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2787	1 - 0	GM	Quezada Perez Yuniesky	2580
1.4	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737	1 - 0	GM	Hernandez Carmenates Holden	2580
Br.	11	GER Germany 1 (GER1)	Elo	3½: ½	73	MAS Malaysia (MAS)	Elo
2.1	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2678	1 - 0	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2439
2.2	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2634	½ - ½	FM	Lim Yee-Weng	2396
2.3	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630	1 - 0	FM	Mok Tze-Meng	2308
2.4	GM	Baramidze David	2557	1 - 0	IM	Liew Chee-Meng-Jimmy	2306
Br.	17	GEO Georgia (GEO)	Elo	1½:2½	2	UKR Ukraine (UKR)	Elo
3.1	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664	1 - 0	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786
3.2	GM	Izoria Zviad	2610	½ - ½	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2720
3.3	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2615	0 - 1	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2680
3.4	GM	Arutinian David	2584	0 - 1	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2659
Br.	3	CHN China (CHN)	Elo	1½:2½	19	NOR Norway (NOR)	Elo
4.1	GM	Wang Yue	2736	½ - ½	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786
4.2	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2714	0 - 1	GM	Lie Kjetil A	2526
4.3	GM	Ni Hua	2710	½ - ½	GM	Johannessen Leif Erlend	2545
4.4	GM	Li Chao B	2622	½ - ½	IM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2522
Br.	20	NED Netherlands (NED)	Elo	2 : 2	4	AZE Azerbaijan (AZE)	Elo
5.1	GM	Van Wely Loek	2618	1 - 0	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752
5.2	GM	Smeets Jan	2604	½ - ½	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2731
5.3	GM	L'Ami Erwin	2610	½ - ½	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703
5.4	GM	Werle Jan	2582	0 - 1	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650
Br.	9	ARM Armenia (ARM)	Elo	4 : 0	72	FAI Faroe Islands (FAI)	Elo
6.1	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679	1 - 0	IM	Ziska Helgi Dam	2416
6.2	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642	1 - 0	FM	Olsen Heini	2376
6.3	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	2629	1 - 0	IM	Rodgaard John	2383
6.4	GM	Minasian Artashes	2541	1 - 0		Poulsen Martin	2281
Br.	74	TJK Tajikistan (TJK)	Elo	1 : 3	12	ESP Spain (ESP)	Elo
7.1		Khuseinov Rashid	2348	0 - 1	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726
7.2	IM	Isaev Jamshed	2400	0 - 1	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2664
7.3	FM	Djuraev Sokhib	2339	0 - 1	GM	Khamrakulov Ibragim S	2580
7.4	IM	Khamdamov Suhrob	2219	1 - 0	GM	San Segundo Carrillo Pablo	2564
Br.	13	IND India (IND)	Elo	3½: ½	91	ESA El Salvador (ESA)	Elo
8.1	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694	1 - 0	IM	Leyva Hector	2399
8.2	GM	Harikrishna P	2659	½ - ½	IM	Arias Lemmys A	2372
8.3	GM	Geetha Narayanan Gopal	2548	1 - 0		Chavez Hector Eduardo	2202
8.4	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2579	1 - 0	FM	Martinez Nelson	2149
Br.	106	JPN Japan (JPN)	Elo	1 : 3	14	ROU Romania (ROU)	Elo
9.1		Kojima Shinya	2272	0 - 1	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2684
9.2		Baba Masahiro	2220	0 - 1	GM	Parligras Mircea	2611
9.3		Uesugi Shinsaku	2222	0 - 1	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2594
9.4		Sano Tomu	2111	1 - 0	GM	Vajda Levente	2582
Br.	15	ENG England (ENG)	Elo	4 : 0	109	MLT Malta (MLT)	Elo
10.1	GM	Adams Michael	2734	1 - 0		Sorensen Torben	2383
10.2	GM	Short Nigel D	2642	1 - 0	CM	Pace Colin	2148
10.3	GM	Howell David W L	2593	1 - 0		Borg Andrew	2112
10.4	GM	Conquest Stuart C	2526	1 - 0		Zerafa Patrick	2065
Br.	5	HUN Hungary (HUN)	Elo	3½: ½	18	CZE Czech Republic (CZE)	Elo
11.1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	1 - 0	GM	Navara David	2633
11.2	GM	Polgar Judit	2711	½ - ½	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2591
11.3	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663	1 - 0	GM	Babula Vlastimil	2608
11.4	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2645	1 - 0	GM	Stocek Jiri	2578
Br.	7	FRA France (FRA)	Elo	2 : 2	27	GRE Greece (GRE)	Elo
12.1	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2705	½ - ½	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2597
12.2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2716	½ - ½	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2587
12.3	GM	Fressinet Laurent	2676	½ - ½	GM	Banikas Hristos	2572
12.4	GM	Tkachiev Vladislav	2664	½ - ½	GM	Mastrovasilis Dimitrios	2572
Br.	35	LTU Lithuania (LTU)	Elo	2 : 2	8	ISR Israel (ISR)	Elo
13.1	GM	Kveinys Aloyzas	2533	½ - ½	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719
13.2	GM	Rozentalis Eduardas	2577	0 - 1	GM	Roiz Michael	2677
13.3	GM	Sulskis Sarunas	2572	1 - 0	GM	Postny Evgeny	2674
13.4	IM	Zagorskis Darius	2509	½ - ½	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2609
Br.	84	RSA South Africa (RSA)	Elo	½ :3½	10	USA United States of America (USA)	Elo
14.1	IM	Kobese Watu	2369	0 - 1	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704
14.2	CM	Steel Henry Robert	2280	0 - 1	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644
14.3	CM	Cawdery Daniel	2265	½ - ½	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616
14.4	IM	Mabusela Johanne Mayedi	2273	0 - 1	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2606
Br.	101	NCA Nicaragua (NCA)	Elo	0 : 4	6	BUL Bulgaria (BUL)	Elo
15.1	IM	Canda Danilo	2289	0 - 1	GM	Topalov Veselin	2791
15.2		Espinoza Felix	2243	0 - 1	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2696
15.3	FM	Bravo William	2157	0 - 1	GM	Delchev Aleksander	2632
15.4		Alfaro William	2200	0 - 1	GM	Iotov Valentin	2532
Br.	78	SIN Singapore (SIN)	Elo	1 : 3	21	POL Poland (POL)	Elo
16.1	IM	Paciencia Enrique	2440	½ - ½	GM	Socko Bartosz	2631
16.2	IM	Goh Weiming	2420	0 - 1	GM	Miton Kamil	2604
16.3		Chan Wei-Xuan Timothy	2264	0 - 1	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	2577
16.4	CM	Chan Yi-Ren Daniel	2260	½ - ½	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2602

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Round 4 Results 16th Nov 2008. 2pm GMT start.
Br.	2	UKR Ukraine (UKR)	Elo	2-2	9	ARM Armenia (ARM)	Elo
1.1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786	½-½	GM	Aronian Levon	2757
1.2	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2730	½-½	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679
1.3	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2680	½-½	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642
1.4	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2659	½-½	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	2629
Br.	12	ESP Spain (ESP)	Elo	1½:2½	11	GER Germany 1 (GER1)	Elo
2.1	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726	0-1	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2678
2.2	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2664	½-½	GM	Khenkin Igor	2647
2.3	GM	Illescas Cordoba Miguel	2604	1-0	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630
2.4	GM	Khamrakulov Ibragim S	2580	0-1	GM	Baramidze David	2557
Br.	19	NOR Norway (NOR)	Elo	2-2	15	ENG England (ENG)	Elo
3.1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786	1-0	GM	Adams Michael	2734
3.2	GM	Agdestein Simen	2588	½-½	GM	Short Nigel D	2642
3.3	GM	Johannessen Leif Erlend	2545	0-1	GM	Howell David W L	2593
3.4	IM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2522	½-½	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2548
Br.	1	RUS Russia (RUS)	Elo	2½:1½	13	IND India (IND)	Elo
4.1	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	½-½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694
4.2	GM	Svidler Peter	2727	0-1	GM	Harikrishna P	2659
4.3	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2719	1-0	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2603
4.4	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2787	1-0	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2579
Br.	14	ROU Romania (ROU)	Elo	1-3	5	HUN Hungary (HUN)	Elo
5.1	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2684	½-½	GM	Leko Peter	2747
5.2	GM	Istratescu Andrei	2633	½-½	GM	Polgar Judit	2711
5.3	GM	Parligras Mircea	2611	0-1	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663
5.4	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2594	0-1	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2645
Br.	4	AZE Azerbaijan (AZE)	Elo	3-1	10	USA United States of America (USA)	Elo
6.1	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752	1-0	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729
6.2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2731	1-0	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704
6.3	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703	½-½	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644
6.4	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650	½-½	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616
Br.	72	FAI Faroe Islands (FAI)	Elo	1½:2½	20	NED Netherlands (NED)	Elo
7.1	IM	Ziska Helgi Dam	2416	1-0	GM	Van Wely Loek	2618
7.2	FM	Olsen Heini	2376	0-1	GM	Stellwagen Daniel	2605
7.3	IM	Rodgaard John	2383	0-1	GM	L'Ami Erwin	2610
7.4		Andreasen Joan Hendrik	2179	½-½	GM	Werle Jan	2582
Br.	109	MLT Malta (MLT)	Elo	½ :3½	21	POL Poland (POL)	Elo
8.1		Sorensen Torben	2383	½-½	GM	Socko Bartosz	2631
8.2	CM	Pace Colin	2148	0-1	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2599
8.3		Borg Andrew	2112	0-1	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	2577
8.4		Zerafa Robert	1991	0-1	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2602
Br.	57	IRL Ireland (IRL)	Elo	½ :3½	29	BIH Bosnia & Herzegovina (BIH)	Elo
9.1	GM	Baburin Alexander	2544	½-½	GM	Nikolic Predrag	2669
9.2	IM	Kelly Brian	2488	0-1	GM	Predojevic Borki	2615
9.3	IM	Collins Sam E	2412	0-1	GM	Saric Ibro	2559
9.4	IM	Heidenfeld Mark	2364	0-1	IM	Stojanovic Dalibor	2455
Br.	39	MKD Former Yug Rep of Macedonia (MKD)	Elo	0-4	3	CHN China (CHN)	Elo
10.1	GM	Georgiev Vladimir	2517	0-1	GM	Wang Yue	2736
10.2	GM	Stanojoski Zvonko	2502	0-1	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2714
10.3	GM	Mitkov Nikola	2556	0-1	GM	Ni Hua	2710
10.4	IM	Colovic Aleksandar	2458	0-1	GM	Wang Hao	2696
Br.	91	ESA El Salvador (ESA)	Elo	0-4	35	LTU Lithuania (LTU)	Elo
11.1	IM	Leyva Hector	2399	0-1	GM	Kveinys Aloyzas	2533
11.2	IM	Arias Lemmys A	2372	0-1	GM	Rozentalis Eduardas	2577
11.3	FM	Chavez Ricardo Ernesto	2226	0-1	IM	Zagorskis Darius	2509
11.4	FM	Martinez Nelson	2149	0-1	IM	Sarakauskas Gediminas	2429
Br.	44	ITA Italy (ITA)	Elo	2½:1½	36	SUI Switzerland (SUI)	Elo
12.1	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2640	1-0	GM	Korchnoi Viktor	2584
12.2	GM	Godena Michele	2517	½-½	GM	Pelletier Yannick	2557
12.3	IM	Shytaj Luca	2472	½-½	GM	Jenni Florian	2543
12.4	IM	Brunello Sabino	2455	½-½	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2480
Br.	65	ECU Ecuador (ECU)	Elo	½ :3½	22	SRB Serbia (SRB)	Elo
13.1	GM	Matamoros Franco Carlos S	2525	½-½	GM	Solak Dragan	2595
13.2	IM	Pazos Gambarrotti Plinio	2327	0-1	GM	Kovacevic Aleksandar	2581
13.3		Aucay Pelaez Mauro	2335	0-1	GM	Perunovic Milos	2580
13.4		Macias Murillo Bryan	2333	0-1	GM	Vuckovic Bojan	2561
Br.	61	POR Portugal (POR)	Elo	½ :3½	17	GEO Georgia (GEO)	Elo
14.1	GM	Galego Luis	2484	0-1	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664
14.2	IM	Damaso Rui	2425	0-1	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2615
14.3	IM	Rocha Sergio	2417	½-½	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2580
14.4	FM	Pereira Ruben	2437	0-1	GM	Arutinian David	2584
Br.	73	MAS Malaysia (MAS)	Elo	½ :3½	25	SVK Slovakia (SVK)	Elo
15.1	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2439	0-1	GM	Ftacnik Lubomir	2571
15.2	FM	Lim Yee-Weng	2396	½-½	GM	Markos Jan	2557
15.3	FM	Mok Tze-Meng	2308	0-1	GM	Petrik Tomas	2487
15.4		Edward Lee Kim Han	0	0-1	IM	Vavrak Peter	2478
Br.	8	ISR Israel (ISR)	Elo	2½:1½	49	EGY Egypt (EGY)	Elo
16.1	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719	1-0	GM	Adly Ahmed	2586
16.2	GM	Roiz Michael	2677	½-½	GM	Amin Bassem	2560
16.3	GM	Avrukh Boris	2657	1-0	IM	Ezat Mohamed	2425
16.4	GM	Postny Evgeny	2674	0-1	FM	Abdel Razik Khaled	2406