Day 3 of the Championships saw 64 boards being played in a day after a long time.
To be honest, we were a bit surprised since we have always restricted the maximum number of boards being played per day to 60. Till now, we are not sure if this is a guideline or a law. Perhaps, this will help clarify things better.
The penalty in the match against Uruguay was levied on Uruguay.
That the competition is very tough is evident from the fact that the Indian Seniors team slipped a place down the rankings to 6th. The Open team is still at 14th place while the mixed team gained a rank to 15th place.
We wish all the teams the very best of luck for day 4.
We have shared a few photographs from the playing arena (courtesy the Indian contingent)
The Ladies team had a comparatively much better day with two wins against Brazil (15.56-4.44) and Belgium (10.91-9.09). However they had started the day with a disastrous 26 imp loss against Spain (3.91-16.09) and a 10 imp loss against Canada (7.20 - 12.80).
After 10 rounds, we are placed 22nd with an average of 6.23 VPs. With the 8th placed Norway averages 11.61 VPs, it will take a really superhuman effort from the ladies to qualify for the Knock Outs.
The seniors seemed to have a downhill ride today. Having started off with a strong win over Egypt (17.09-2.41), they notched up another creditable, albeit narrower, win over Australia (14.49 - 4.11). However, the last two rounds saw us lose by progressively wider margins to Belgium (7.20-12.80) and Turkey (4.44 - 15.56)
Our team was levied penalties of 0.5 VPs in round 7 and 0.6 VPs in round 8. While one penalty was contested, our protest was overruled. While penalties are always avoidable, we believe that we should focus on the future, while taking care to prevent the recurrence of the penalties.
After 10 rounds, the Seniors are in 6th place with an average of 11.80 VPs. The 8th place team has an average of 11.15 VPs. The Seniors need to maintain the current average, at the very minimum, if they wish to qualify).
The Mixed team had a see-saw kind of day. They started the day with a 20 imp (15 - 4) win over Chile. The latter appear to have been penalized 1 VP. The next round saw them lose narrowly to Turkey (9.09-10.91). The third session saw them carve a win over Egypt (12.55-7.45). The last round was another loss against Italy (5.40 - 15.60).
The Indians are currently ranked 15th with an average of 9.88 VPs. With the 8th rank team currently averaging 11.90, it is clear that they will have their work cut out if they hope to qualify).