Malaysia's Open team is having a great run at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. We started as the #67 seed, and after seven rounds of the 11-round event we're sitting 52nd.

It hasn't been a smooth climb. We jumped to 47th after Round 1, then dropped all the way to 111th after Round 2 once the pairings got tougher. From there we slowly recovered: 87th, 100th, 82nd, 59th, and finally 52nd. Going from 100th to 52nd in three rounds is a big swing.

The highlight was Round 7, when we drew 2-2 with Switzerland, the #33 seed, whose average rating is over 2500. That result took us to 9 match points and 16.5 game points. Holding a team that strong also helps our tiebreaks and keeps us in the upper half of the pairings.

Credit goes to the whole lineup. IM Tan Jun Ying on Board 1 and IM Chan Kim Yew on Board 2 have been taking on much stronger opposition, which lets the rest of the team play with a bit more freedom. CM Chow Yi Chen on Board 3 has been good at turning level positions into winning chances, and FM Lim Zhuo Ren on Board 4 has been picking up the wins that turn draws into match victories.

Regionally, the Philippines (#29), Vietnam (#31), Indonesia (#34) and Singapore (#43) are all still ahead of us, but they're mostly sitting close to where they were seeded. Our move from #67 to #52 is a gain of 15 places, which looks like the biggest jump in Southeast Asia.

Next up is Sweden, the #36 seed, in Round 8. A good result there could push us into the top 50.