LAST week’s column documented the performance of the Bermuda team in the first half of the 2006 Chess Olympiad. We pick up the story in the eighth of the 13 rounds, when we faced the strong team from Cyprus.To recap, our squad in Turin lined up as follows.

1. Zuzana Kovacova

2. Nick Faulks

3. Bobby Miller

4. Nigel Freeman

1st reserve: Sami Lill

2nd reserve: Larry Ebbin

On top board, Zuzana’s opponent played a highly topical opening system which he had obviously studied in some depth, and produced a flawless performance to claim the win. My opponent had evidently seen my dismal game against Hong Kong, and optimistically tried to repeat it.

Naturally, I played the line a little better this time, but still went wrong and was lucky to escape with a draw after some sharp tactical exchanges. Bobby lost a piece early on and did well just to play on for another thirty moves, while Sami’s early blunder of a pawn eventually led to another loss. We were outclassed, and suffered a 3|0xbd|-|0xbd| loss.

Round nine<$>

Following a sharp drop down the league table we might have expected to play one of the weakest teams, but instead found ourselves paired against old rivals Jersey, who are not bad. Zuzana bounced back with a nice win, but my opponent played the white pieces with the clear intention of making a draw and achieved this. Bobby was eventually beaten after a long and closely fought game, while Nigel played out another draw in which there was little real action. A respectable 2-2 draw.

Round ten

We were quite pleased to find ourselves playing against the Seychelles, whom we have beaten in the past. However, they seem to have developed their game in the past few years. Zuzana was on the back foot throughout, but had good drawing chances until going wrong when short of time at the very end. Nick played the opening well and achieved a big advantage, but was once again betrayed by his technique and finally had to find a couple of good moves even to force a draw. Sami played out a solid draw, but Larry neglected to castle and paid the usual price. We lost 3-1.

Round 11<$>

More old rivals to play, this time the British Virgin Islands. Their top board, Craig van Tilbury, is very strong, but Zuzana still obtained a good position from the opening before a small oversight gave him the chance he needed. My opponent, Bill Hook, has a terrific history in Olympiads, but he is now 81 years old and has great difficulty with the insanely fast time control — I eventually won after some crazy complications. Bobby and Sami both won well to confirm a good 3-1 victory.

Round 12<$>

Today’s opponents, Rwanda, really are one of the weakest teams in the competition. Zuzana, Nick and Sami all won comfortably, but Bobby spoilt a good position with one shocking move, so we had to be content with another 3-1 victory. This left us ahead of our expected score, and well placed for an excellent final result.

Round 13<$>

In our final match, which started at the unhealthy time of 10 a.m., we faced the Dutch Antilles, who are not bad but not unbeatable either. Zuzana played a good game to achieve a clearly winning ending, which she then butchered quite uncharacteristically to lose. Nick, Bobby and Larry just played horribly from the off, and we had finished with a forgettable 4-0 loss.

I shall continue next week with an overview of our performance. However, there was an event parallel to the competition in which Bermuda made an undoubted impression on the chess world — Nigel Freeman has been elected treasurer of FIDE, the world’s governing body of the sport.

This is an enormously significant position, especially given that the development of chess is currently at a critical juncture. We must hope that Nigel’s common-sense approach helps to lead us in a sensible direction.