Why drawing is the correct decision

First GM thinks Mas should be too hasty to draw and gives his reasons as well

Read Rationality's comments on this. Thanks to Rationality for his explanation as well as his analysis of the first round games - I rather enjoyed reading his non-chess comments. And just in case you think Rationality does not know what he is talking about, let me assure you, he is much stronger most of you reading this. But I like to add on to that for completeness.

A team game is unlike a normal individual game - more so when that game is in an event like the olympiad.

It does not further the team cause to play on - at that moment we had already lost the match. Personally I would do the same and preserve energy for the coming rounds. Yes, even though chess is a mind game, the physical effects cannot be discounted. Fatigue will set in around the ninth round. There is a very good reason why there is a reserve player (in older olympiads there were even two).

If you dig around hard enough, you will find examples where players continued in drawn positions and finally brought in the decisive point, as well as those where good winning chances were abandoned to ensure a half point was added to the team final score.

Mas made the correct decision. One should not continue the battle when it is already lost. Besides, there is that matter of the difference of three hundred rating points.