In the fourth round of the men’s team event, Christoph Gerlach beat Kim Songwon, Benjamin Teuber beat Cha Jonghyok, and Bernd Schutze won by default to hand DPR Korea its first defeat in the men’s team competition.

Team Germany

The exuberant Germans  move on to face the Netherlands, who beat the Ukraine, in the next round. In another significant match in round four the Polish team beat the USA 3-2. The Poles will now tackle the Romanians, who lost 0-5 to China.

The Chinese team’s will next opponent will be their main rivals in block B: the Japanese team, who defeated the team from Malaysia by a 5-0 score. In block A, the team from Chinese Taipei beat the Russian team 5-0 and the team from the Republic of Korea beat the Danish team 5-0. The undefeated teams from Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea will meet head-to-head in the fifth round.

Team Chinese Taipei

While the DPR Korean men’s team was losing, their women’s team was winning, defeating Chinese Taipei in the first round of the women’s knockout. Although Ro Jina lost to Chang Chen-ping on board two, Hwang Kyongju and Kim Yumi defeated Tang Hsi-yun and Hsiao Ai-lin on the other boards. This victory sends the DPR Korean team into the semi-finals, where they will seek revenge for their earlier loss against the Republic of Korea. The teams from China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea overcame the teams from Germany, Australia, and the UK by 3-0 scores in the other quarter-final games.

In pair competition, in block D the amazing Mongolians, Tungalag Ravjir and Sansar Tsolmon, tangled with the Canadian pair (Minggao Liang and Chuyang Liu). Once again the Mongolians were outranked but victorious. Also undefeated in block D is the pair from the Ukraine, Mariya Zakharchenko and Iurii Pliusch, who followed the Mongolians’ example by beating the pair from Chinese Taipei.

– James Davies