The first round of the Olympiad took place today, on 2 August, Macedonia’s biggest national holiday, Ilinden. And what better present to our Republic if not a 4-0 win for both men’s and women’s team at the chess Olympiad! My grandfather’s name was Ilija and playing on Board 1 for the first time in my career and winning in 24 moves I dedicate this win to his memory.

The final position. Grandad would have approved.

The first rounds at Olympiads have become very messy after the introduction of the anti-cheating measures. Imagine more than 1500 people (that’s more than 5 full airplanes) waiting to go through only 5 metal detectors. Needless to say this precaution made the zero tolerance rule look ridiculous and the first round started with significant delay. And luckily there was no rain so at least everybody got inside dry, if somewhat annoyed. I’m curious to see if things will improve in the coming days.

Tomorrow we expect to go to the top boards, so it should be fun.