Live Chess WL: Russia Shows Strength, Defeats Iran
That was another eventful week in LCWL with some shocking results!
Russia Scores Big Against Iran!
Team Russia had a narrow escape in their first round. This time they prepared very well and avenged their previous season's loss against Iran. Russia registered 180+ players in the blitz match and scoreline reflects the depth of their squad!
Kazakhstan Stuns Serbia!
Iran-Kazakhstan-Serbia trio continued to surprise us. What a turnaround for the Kazakh fighters! You just can't write them off. Their top boards performed well against the Serbian big guns. With this 3-0 victory, Kazakhs are well alive in this contest. Serbia will face a strong Russian squad in the next round.
Slovakia Defeats USA!
It's never late to join the party! Slovaks are now at the top of their games as they defeated USA and Romania. Despite having more than 20k members, USChess is still struggling. Hopefully the newly introduced "club notifications" will come to the rescue. "Mexico vs USA" will be a do-or-die match for the Americans!
Mexico Strikes Back Against Uzbekistan!
Mexico is the dark horse 
of Division 2. They had a close contest in the Chess960 Cup Final. But this time the Mexicans came out victorious! On the other side, Uzbeks might regret this loss in the later stage of this season.
Turkey Defeats Spain!
After defeating Belarus and Denmark, Spain was looking unstoppable. But Turkish FM Deniz Arman @FedaMaster had some other idea! His perfect score 4/4 on top board lead his team to victory.
It was a great match! Congratz to all of my teammates 😊👏
— FedaMaster (@FedaMaster1) September 20, 2020
India vs Italy: Another Stalemate!
Being the largest team of the league, Team India outnumbered the Italians in both matches. India won the Blitz match where five players forgot an important rule - "Press the withdraw button before leaving!" Team Italia made a nice comeback in the Rapid match.
Which match was an upset? You guys can debate over this in the comment section 
Italian NM Alberto Fabris @Antelacus streamed during this contest.
Some Interesting Games
Let's start with an easy one.
Azerbaijani IM missed checkmate against Serbian GM!
Chilean admin had a nice game on the top board against England. Can you find the winning move?
U1600 Event
Not getting paired in the main event due to low rating? Too afraid to lose points for your team? U1600 blitz is there for you! No promotion/relegation, no prizes, 100% fun! Two more spots are still available for interested teams.
Stats Corner
Including U1600 event and Friendlies League, we've got 56 teams in this season!
Standings
At the end of 7th round, best 4 teams from each division will qualify for the championship pool. Let's take a brief look at the league standings.
Division 1
| Rk. | Team | KAZ | RUS | SRB | IRI | UKR | PHI | FRA | PER | Points | H2H | SB | Avg% | |
| 1 | Kazakhstan | - | 3 | 0 | - | - | 3 | - | 6 | 3 | 21 | 62% | ||
| 2 | Russia | - | - | 3 | - | 3 | - | - | 6 | 0 | 15 | 60% | ||
| 3 | Serbia | 0 | - | 3 | - | - | - | 3 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 58% | ||
| 4 | Iran | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | 18 | 43% |
Division 2
| Rk. | Team | BIH | UZB | SVK | CZE | MEX | ROU | USA | ARG | Points | H2H | SB | Avg% | |
| 1 | Bosnia | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 71% | ||
| 1 | Uzbekistan | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | 4 | 0 | 7 | 69% | ||
| 3 | Slovakia | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 4 | 0 | 5 | 61% | ||
| 4 | Czech Rep. | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 69% |
Division 3W
| Rk. | Team | GAL | CAN | ENG | BRA | PUR | URU | CHI | NCA | Points | H2H | SB | Avg% | |
| 1 |
|
Galicia | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 77% | ||
| 2 | Canada | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 62% | |||
| 4 | England | 0 | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 49% | |||
| 4 | Brazil | - | - | 0 | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 4 | 48% |
Division 3E
| Rk. | Team | AUS | ESP | TUR | IND | ITA | DEN | BLR | AZE | Points | H2H | SB | Avg% | |
| 1 | Australia | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 6 | - | 10 | 73% | ||
| 2 | Spain | - | 0 | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 4 | - | 4 | 77% | ||
| 3 | Turkey | - | 2 | - | 1 | 0 | - | - | 3 | 0 | 10 | 52% | ||
| 4 | India | 0 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 66% |
Division 4
| Rk. | Team | CUB | CRC | COL | PAK | HUN | DOM | CPV | VEN | SLO | ESA | ALG | GEO | Points | H2H | SB | Avg% | |
| 1 | Cuba | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | 6.5 | 67% | ||
| 2 | Costa Rica | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | - | 2.5 | 80% | ||
| 3 | Colombia | 0 | - | - | 0.5 | - | - | 0 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | - | 0.75 | 48% | ||
| 4 | Pakistan | 0 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2.5 | 61% |
*Division 4 will follow a single round robin, with no playoffs.
Coming Next...
- Division 1: Russia vs Serbia
September 26, 2020 at 11 a.m. Pacific / 20:00 CEST - Division 1: Ukraine vs Iran
September 27, 2020 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 CEST - Division 2: Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Czech Republic
September 27, 2020 at 11:20 a.m. Pacific / 20:20 CEST - Division 2: USA vs Mexico
- Division 3: Brazil vs Canada
Most of the matches are played on Saturday and Sunday. Live commentary will be available on the official YouTube channel for the key games at 11 a.m. Pacific / 7 p.m. Central Europe.
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