Pain and glory in the Chennai Chess Olympiad
All medals are up for grabs in the final round Chess is tough, and the life of a professional player is even more so. Maintaining your emotional stability throughout a tournament can be very testing, and things can change rapidly from one day to the next. The match between the youth teams of India B and Uzbekistan was 2-1 for India B, thanks to Praggnanandhaa’s great win over Sindarov. Only Gukesh’s game remained: he was playing White against Abdusattorov. The Indian GM, with a cumulative score of 8.5 out of 9, had a decisive advantage, but a one-off mistake suddenly made the position drawn. Nonetheless, with this result, India B would have won the match, practically securing a medal. But Gukesh continued to play for the win, the game got tricky, and he made a mistake under pressure, going down in defeat. The final 2-2 result tasted heavenly to the Uzbeks, who maintained the first position and now have everything in their favour to fight for gold in the last round. The tie allowed Armenia to bounce back from yesterday’s loss with a big win over neighbour country Azerbaijan by 3-1 and to tie for first place with Uzbekistan. Robert Hovhannisyan on board four and especially Gabriel Sargissian on board 1 were the team’s heroes scoring the victories. However, Armenia has always had a “secret”, which Sargissian revealed to FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal in a short postgame interview. “Even without Radjabov, Azerbaijan is a very strong team, but Mamedyarov made a mistake in the opening, and we always had the match under control. We never expected this, especially without having Levon Aronian in the team; so, for us already, this is a great result. We are all very good friends, and maybe this gives us an advantage: maybe there are some teams that don’t have a good atmosphere,” were Sargissian’s thoughts immediately after defeating Mamedyarov. Although the United States are having a relatively poor Olympiad – only Wesley So is performing to expectation on board three – two consecutive wins allowed them to climb in the standings. In fact, a win in the last round could even stand for an unexpected medal. This afternoon Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez stepped up, leading their team to victory over Turkey by 3-1. We were lucky enough to catch Dominguez for a brief postgame interview: we wanted to know what was happening in the team. “It’s my first time in India, but I am very happy to be here. The fans are incredible. When you have several players out of shape, it’s very difficult to perform well as a team,” Dominguez explained. India A scored the crucial win against Iran at the last moment and will join the group trailing the leaders. Harikrishna lost against Maghsoodloo on board one, but Vidit notched up his second win on board two against Tabatabaei to level the match. At the last moment, Narayanan broke down his opponents’ fortress for an overall 2.5-1.5. The pairings for the last round leave everything to play for, as most of the top teams have already faced each other. Leaders Armenia (17) and Uzbekistan (17) drop down to face Spain (15) and Netherlands (15). Both of these encounters will be very exciting – both the Spaniards and the Dutch are rating favorites. India (16) will battle it out with USA (16) – the winner will likely get a medal; even gold can’t be ruled out! Finally, India B (16) will play against Germany (15), to try and finish off the tournament at the top of the standings. As a side note, re-elected FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich held a press conference this afternoon in the venue before a packed room with more than 100 journalists and press cameras. “Yesterday, the delegates showed their full trust in what we have been doing throughout this period, and the trust in what we can do during the next four years” was Dvorkovich’s opening statement, seated next to his new Deputy President Vishy Anand and Vice President Joran Aulin-Jansson. See the full press conference here. Round 11 will be played on August 9 at 10 am and can be followed live on the tournament website. The closing ceremony is scheduled to be held at 6 pm at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Women’s Olympiad: Four-way tie on the top with two rounds to go
In a major setback for the sole overnight leaders in the Women’s section India A were upset by fourth seed Poland 1.5-2.5. Vaishali R lost the only game to WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa, who incidentally scored a whopping 9/9 while the three other boards ended in hard-fought draws. Humpy Koneru playing the black side of a QGD, showed good preparation and equalized early in the opening against Alina Kashlinskaya. Pieces were exchanged at regular intervals, and players decided to split a point in a dry rook ending just before the first time control. Harika Dronavalli and Monika Socko fought in a Queen’s Indian Defence, with the former grabbing the initiative from the start. Harika arranged her pieces in attacking formation to launch a real onslaught on the kingside but failed to find the winning continuation. Moreover, a hasty pawn move 25.f5 allowed Monika the trade the queens. Harika’s attack fizzled out with the game ending in a draw after 41 moves. Vaishali’s good run ended against Oliwia Kiolbasa. Vaishali lost her way in a theoretically drawn rook endgame, and Oliwia notched up her ninth (!) straight victory. India B whitewashed Switzerland 4-0, with Vantika Agrawal making her IM norm. India C also defeated Estonia 3-1. In one of the most important matches of Round 9, Georgia held second seed Ukraine to a 2-2 draw (the teams exchanged blows on boards 2 and 4), while Kazakhstan routed Bulgaria 3-1. With just two rounds to go, the race for medals is wide open, as four teams, namely Poland, Kazakhstan, India A and Georgia, are sharing first place. The complete results for round 9 can be found at the official website for the Olympiad, https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Standings after round 9 can be found at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-standings Photo: Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Uzbek kids lead 44th Chess Olympiad
India B vs Uzbekistan, the clash of the youngsters The battle for the medal was all the rage in the ninth round of the Olympiad, played this afternoon at the Sheraton Four Points Convention Center in Mahabalipuram. No team is budging an inch, and the matches are fast and furious. Uzbekistan’s young squad, led by teenager Abdusattorov and coached by seasoned Dutch Grand Master Ivan Sokolov, compellingly defeated leaders Armenia by a 3-1 score, with wins by Sindarov and Vakhidov on the last two boards. Vakhidov’s feat is even more praiseworthy – he beat Robert Hovhannisyan (undefeated to date) with the black pieces. With this win, the Uzbekistan team is now the sole leader of the Olympiad sitting on 16 points with two rounds to go. In addition, they are the only undefeated team in the tournament – a huge surprise. As if that were not enough, the Uzbeks were greatly favoured by the other results of the round. Azerbaijan couldn’t get past a 2-2 tie against the India B juniors – Praggnanandhaa defeated Durarbayli on board three but young gun Sadhwani fell to experienced grandmaster Abasov on the fourth board. India B and Armenia are now sharing second-third places with 15 points, trailing the leaders by just one point. In the other key match of the day, the Netherlands and Iran also shared the points in a match that ended with four draws, leaving both teams with 14 points. The other teams didn’t miss the opportunity to keep their options open for the podium. Despite Levon Aronian’s unexpected defeat against Theodorou with White, the United States beat Greece by the minimal 2.5-1.5 score, in good measure due to Wesley So’s key win – he is still undefeated. Nonetheless, the hero of the day in the USA camp was Fabiano Caruana. After two consecutive defeats, he took down Greece’s number one player Mastrovasilis in a great game with Black in the Sicilian Sveshnikov Defense. The spectacular move 21…Bh6 was the beginning of a winning attack on the white king – a game for the ages. India A recovered positions at the expense of Brazil, who have been performing at a high level in the tournament. Erigaisi and Sasikiran, on the third and fourth boards, were the heroes of the national team, clearing a 3-1 victory for the local team. With only two rounds to go and three medals in play, tomorrow’s pairings are already pretty meaningful. India B (15) will face Uzbekistan (16) in a clash between the youngsters. Match two will see an Olympiad classic: Azerbaijan (14) vs Armenia (15). Whilst a draw might be a decent result for Armenia, Azerbaijan needs to go for broke to get a chance to fight for the gold medal. USA (14) vs Turkey (14), Iran (14) vs India A (14) and Serbia (14) vs Netherlands (14) are the other three pairings that will arguably decide the podium – a win is necessary, so a huge fight is expected. Alongside the Chess Olympiad, the International Chess Federation General Assembly – and general elections – have taken place in Chennai. Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected today for a second term as FIDE President with 157 votes, against 16 for his electoral opponent, the Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Andrii Baryshpolets. The third candidate, Bachar Kouatly from France, withdrew his candidacy before the voting started. Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was part of Dvorkovich’s ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President. Round 10 will be played on August 8 at 3 pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Arkady Dvorkovich, reelected as FIDE President
Arkady Dvorkovich has been reelected for a second term as President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) with 157 votes, against 16 for his electoral opponent, the Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Andrii Baryshpolets. A third candidate, the French Bachar Kouatly, withdrew his candidacy after giving his speech before the voting started. Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was part of Dvorkovich’s ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President. The elections took place during the FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, held alongside the Chess Olympiad, one of FIDE’s flagship events. The Olympiad is a team competition where countries are represented by their four best players. This year, despite the notable absences of Russia and Belarus (banned), and China (citing logistic difficulties derived from the pandemic), the Olympiad reached record participation, with 186 nations represented in the open competition, plus 160 more in the Women’s Olympiad. Born in Moscow on March 26, 1972, Arkady Dvorkovich was first elected as FIDE President in October 2018, succeeding Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Despite being questioned by some due to his nationality and to the fact that in the past, he held important positions in the Russian government, Dvorkovich’s landslide election victory shows that he has earned the trust of FIDE’s member federations – and the wider chess community. “Yes, I am Russian, and I have served the people of my country, including to Russian chess community, as Chairman of the Board of the Russian Chess Federation”, said Arkady during his speech before the votation. “I have been trying to do it professionally and with the highest possible level of integrity. And I took a strong position on the tragic events in Ukraine as well as supported FIDE Council decisions regarding scaling down Russia’s involvement in FIDE. Moreover, while abandoning Russian partners, we have been able to find new ones around the globe, organize this Chess Olympiad [in India] and ensure financial stability for FIDE. It is far from easy for me personally, but I hope that chess can re-unite people again.” During his electoral speech before the FIDE delegates, Dvorkovich cited the following points as his main priorities for his second term: 1) To keep improving its top events, those that are part of the World Championship cycle, like the driving force of FIDE. “Not only do they generate a large interest for the game – they are a source of income required to invest in different parts of the world where chess is being developed. That should help us to make FIDE a sustainable institution, financially stable, and independent of politics”, he said. 2) To expand FIDE’s online projects, seeking new partnerships and reinforcing the existing ones, “leveraging both on the strong positive image chess has earned throughout the centuries – and the ability of chess to thrive with new technologies.” 3) To maintain and strengthen the support to member federations. After fulfilling the goal of waiving or reducing most of the fees, Dvorkovich expressed his intention “to send our best people to help, to train, to share best practices. We will provide chess materials and help to raise a new generation of arbiters, organizers, and coaches, as well as school instructors”. 4) To keep investing in promoting women’s chess. “For years, the level of female engagement stood at 10-15 percent. We already see it rising above 20% – but that is not only about the numbers. We will continue creating a friendly environment, we will provide incentives, we will engage coaches and build programs”, said the President. “These initiatives must be shaped like a long-term project, rather than punctual activities.” 5) To continue expanding FIDE’s social programs. “We will keep promoting the idea that chess is a culture and a tool to improve our societies – more than just a game or a sport. Chess is an excellent tool to develop useful skills for children in their future, like complex problem-solving, as well as socio-emotional intelligence”. Dvorkovich’s second term will also be the last, as one of the first tasks that he undertook shortly after being elected in 2018 was to renew the FIDE Charter, introduce term limits, and other democratic reforms. Among them, the “FIDE Presidential Board” was replaced by the “FIDE Council”, effectively limiting the President’s powers.
Checkmate Coronavirus: Vanakkam Chennai!
A massive online project, Checkmate Coronavirus, was launched by FIDE in May 2020. Over 720 non-stop hours of this chess marathon, 2,762 tournaments were played by 120,000 unique participants from at least 140 countries. The weekly project prize draw winners received 1500 prizes, including souvenirs, free master classes, and mini-matches with top grandmasters. The luckiest ones got the major prize of the event – a six-night trip to Chennai with paid air tickets, a full board, and a chance to attend the Chess Olympiad, a flagship event of FIDE with 186 national teams participating. After two years of anticipation, the winners of the major prize of FIDE’s Checkmate Coronavirus project arrived in Chennai, India and are now enjoying their stay in a 382-year-old city, the chess capital of India and the home of five-time World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand. The chess fans representing Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Pakistan, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden and Thailand have already visited the Olympiad venue, watched the games of their favourite players and participated in the side events, including festivals, concerts, and performances organized by AICF to show the big cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu. “I had an excellent impression of this Olympiad. I was very well received from the arrival at the airport to the hotel. I went to the beach and pool and took a walk on the sand. I can’t say what I liked the most because I loved everything. Indian people are very hospitable. At the Olympiad venue, I saw several famous players, including Magnus Carlsen. I want to thank FIDE for this great present and also for the wonderful gifts we received,” said Carlos Gomes from Taguatinga, the oldest member of the delegation. “I’m enjoying the Olympiads very much, and I’m glad to see so many top players fighting in live action instead of Youtube streaming! I played a few friendly games here and there with random players from around the world,” – adds Nicolas Noel from Thailand. During the pandemic, he played online a lot on many platforms and participated in hundreds of Checkmate Coronavirus tournaments. “Chess Olympiad is my dream. I’ve never been to foreign countries before,” said Than Min Hlaing from Myanmar. “There is no word to say how happy I am. The Olympiad chess games are the greatest games I’ve ever seen. I’m feeling ecstatic. The person I want to see the most here is Magnus Carlsen. I also want to play chess with a great player. I’ll never forget this memorable huge event. I hope that we will meet at the next Olympiad too.” With two more rounds of the Chess Olympiad to go, Checkmate Coronavirus winners have all the chances to meet in person many chess ledends, take selfies with them and get autographs. The visit will end with a spectacular closing ceremony which includes Indian traditional performances and awarding the strongest teams of the event.
India A Women’s team held to a draw by Ukraine but retains the lead
The India Women A Team victory march was halted with a 2-2 draw against second seed Ukraine, the squad boasting of two former Women World Champions, Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina. All the four encounters ended in deadlock, and India A continues to be in charge of the sole lead with 15 points while Georgia has inched closer, sitting on 14 points. Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Mongolia are bunched together in the third spot with 13 points each. Just like Gukesh D in the open section, WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa (pictured below) of Poland also scored a fantastic 8/8 in the Women’s competition. The encounter between former Women’s World Chess Champion Mariya Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru was much-awaited, and the former opted for the Nimzo Indian defence. After the massive exchanges, the opponents ended up in a rook and four pawns each drawish ending and signed peace on move 40. Anna Muzychuk unleashed the prehistoric Italian Greco gambit against Harika Dronavalli on the second board. Harika played sensibly to complete development and quickly extinguished White’s initiative. She had a good chance for advantage in the ending, but Anna found a way out in a pawn down opposite colour bishop ending and forced a draw on the move 49. Vaishali R countered the Petroff Defence by Anna Ushenina with the Nimzowitsh attack but failed to gain any initiative. She slipped to a slightly inferior ending after simplifications and had to demonstrate good calculation and understanding of Rook endings to hold off Anna. Tania Sachdev and Nataliya Buksa played out a Ruy Lopez, which also failed to excite the spectators. The game petered out to a draw by repetition after massive exchanges on the queenside. India C Team, seeded 16th, were no match for fourth-seeded Poland and went down 1-3. India B team seeded 11th, defeated Croatia 3.5-0.5, with Vantika Agrawal, Padmini Rout and Divya Deshmukh scoring victories and Mary Ann Gomes conceding a draw. Complete results for round 8 can be found at the official website for the Olympiad, https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Standings after round 8 can be found at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-standings Photo: Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
44th Chess Olympiad: USA toppled by Indian teenagers
Armenia leads the Olympiad after eight rounds From the outside, it’s always very difficult to speculate on what may be happening to the USA team, but it’s clear that they are not going through their best moment. Despite having the best team on paper by quite a margin, none of their players seem to be in great shape, and Fabiano Caruana in particular, is unrecognizable. This afternoon they suffered a clear and resounding defeat against India’s B team by 3-1. Caruana and Dominguez lost against Gukesh and Sadhwani, while the other two games ended in draws after a very complicated play. GM Noel Studer summed it nicely on social media minutes after the round ended: Gukesh notched up his eighth victory in a row – with an impressive 3366 rating performance – and has overtaken Pentala Harikrishna on the live rating list, becoming India’s number two player behind Vishy Anand. It seems that the sky is the limit for the kid! Although the game was mentally demanding, he still had enough energy to answer some questions in the media center, stating above all that “Fabiano is one of my favourite players and it was a pleasure to play against him”. The round began with the ceremonial first move on Women’s Section number two match between Georgia and Armenia. We were honoured to receive the visit by Mr Mikheil Chkhenkeli, Georgian Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, along with Mr. Archil Dzuliashvili, Georgia’s Indian Ambassador. On the other Women’s match between India and Ukraine, Mr Iraianbu IAS, Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, played the first move. In the other main match of the day, Armenia made a huge step towards the medal by defeating India A by the slightest of margins. Three of the games were drawn, but Sargissian managed to convert a small edge in the ending against Harikrishna on board one. All the Armenian players are overperforming – first board Sargissian is on a roll – but reserve player Robert Hovhannisyan is smashing the winning button on board four with an undefeated score of 6.5/8. After eight of the eleven scheduled rounds, Armenia is leading the open section of the Olympiad with 15 points, followed very closely by India B with 14 points. Also, on 14 points are another teenager team, Uzbekistan, who closed the gap this afternoon by defeating Germany by 2.5-1.5 – a tremendous result for the young team coached by seasoned GM Ivan Sokolov. The match was heavily contested on all four boards, but the Uzbek team pulled ahead on board two when Yakubboev defeated Bluebaum. The other three games were drawn. Azerbaijan and the Netherlands are the other two teams that, along with Iran, are inching closer to the top of the standings to fight for the medals in the later rounds. The team led by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – who rested today – got rid of Kazakhstan by the minimum result. Iran defeated France by the same result, while the Netherlands took down Hungary convincingly with victories by Giri and Warmerdam. Born in 2000, the young Dutchman has gained more than 100 rating points since the pandemic and is in top form in Chennai. He was kind enough to answer some questions in a short postgame interview, offering some great insight on how they prepare the matches – a team effort. On a positive note, Jergus Pechac received this afternoon the 2021 Gligoric Trophy in recognition of his exemplary behaviour and fair play spirit. The Slovak GM offered a draw to Boris Gelfand after the latter had erred due to a mouse slip, during the European Qualification Tournament, held in a hybrid format. FIDE Vice President Mahir Mamedov and GM Eugene Torre, who chaired the Award Commission together with Judit Polgar, awarded Jerguš before the start of the 8th round. Visibly pleased with the award, Pechac also held World Champion Magnus Carlsen to a draw: a fine afternoon for the Slovac. Round 9 will be played August 7th at 3pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Monaco to host Pool A of Women’s Candidates
The glamorous Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo will host the Pool A of the Women’s Candidates tournament, organised by the Monaco Chess Federation, from October 24 to November 6. This bracket will see the clash between Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk (first Quarter-Final), and Lei Tingjie and Mariya Muzychuk in the second Quarter-Final. Under the new knock-out format, players in each of the two brackets or “pools” will play a four-game match (plus tie-breaks, if needed) in order to advance to the next stage, with the final match being played over the distance of six games. The prize fund for this pool is €70,000, while another €110,000 will be at stake in the Women’s Candidates Final, raising the total to a record-breaking amount of €250,000. The main sponsor for the event will be The Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), a company that owns and manages the Monte Carlo Casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Originally founded in 1863 by Charles III, Prince of Monaco, and previously owned by Aristotle Onassis, SBM is now a publicly traded company registered in the Principality of Monaco, with the Government of Monaco as the main shareholder. Photo: Håkan Dahlström The games venue will add a touch of distinction to the event, as the Hôtel Hermitage is one of the most emblematic hotels in Europe. Set in a palace in Monaco listed as a historical monument, this luxurious five-star hotel features Belle-Époque décor, a winter garden, and a 7,000 m² spa. Among other recognitions, it received the “Best spa in a hotel in Europe” Prix by Villégiature Award in 2016 and the Gold Award in the “Event Hotel of the Year” category by Eventia in 2012. Pool B of the Women’s Candidates will be staged under the same conditions, and the host city will be confirmed in the coming days. The Final that will determine the challenger to Ju Wenju’s throne, played over the distance of 6 games, will take place in the first quarter of 2023, and two different European cities have already expressed their interest in organising it.
44th Chess Olympiad: Illegal move gives lead to Armenia
India B Gukesh stuns the world with 7/7. The Olympiad is arguably the world’s largest team championship, played at the same time in a single venue. It’s so big – more than 350 four-player teams – that it typically takes two or more buildings to lodge all the games. Here in Chennai, the main venue hall has a capacity for 27 matches in the open category and 20 women’s matches, with more than 350 players. However, since the Norwegian team is not doing very well at the moment – only the world champion Magnus Carlsen is playing at a decent level – this afternoon they faced North Macedonia on open table 28, in venue hall room B, with capacity for the other 1200 players! Carlsen’s presence generated great expectations amongst all the mostly amateur teams that play their “own” non-grandmaster Olympiad, and of course, one of the sponsors of the event, Mr Shrikant Madhav Vaidya Indian Oil Corporation Chairman, who performed the traditional ceremonial first move on his board. FIDE Director General, GM Emil Sutovsky captured this sentiment magnificently on Twitter. The final score of the match, 2.5-1.5 for Norway, will allow them to return to the main venue tomorrow. However, if they want to continue climbing the ladder, they need to improve on the lower boards. We were lucky enough to catch board two, Aryan Tari, just before he left the venue, and he agreed to a short interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal. Check it out if you want to know what it feels like sitting next to Magus every day! Meanwhile, in the main venue, all eyes were on the two main matches. USA vs Armenia was a classic, one of the most exciting matches to date. After less than 20 moves, Wesley So was already winning against Hrant Melkumyan: the American crashed through with a fantastic rook sacrifice, which, in one of the lines, would have been followed up by an unbelievable queen sacrifice and mate in six. On board three, Lenier Dominguez also brought home the point for 2-0, but then disaster struck. Fabiano Caruana lost on board one against Gabriel Sargissian – a very strong grandmaster who always performs strongly in team competitions. Fabiano is not having the best of events, performing more than 200 points below his rating. It looked like Shankland was going to lose on board four (for a final 2-2), but he got back into the game. When a draw was about to be agreed, a devastated Shankland illegally “premoved” his king and had to resign immediately. The final result permits Armenia to maintain the lead by one match point. The other top match was India A vs India C. The A-team outrated their colleagues by more than 100 points, and the final 3-1 score more or less reflects what happened on the boards. Not without difficulties, Erigaisi and Narayanan took down their opponents on boards three and four, while Harikrishna (slightly better most of the game) and Vidit secured draws on the top boards. They will face Armenia for the tournament lead tomorrow. Playing for India B, Gukesh D is still on a roll, and this afternoon he won his seventh game in a row! His TPR (tournament rating performance) is mind-blowing: 3335, nearly 400 points more than Magnus Carlsen, chasing him down. His opponent, Cuban grandmaster Carlos Albornoz, rated 2566 and is a very strong player. Still, Gukesh achieved a comfortable position after the opening with Black, and then he just gradually outplayed Carlos in a complicated endgame. Sarin and Praggnanandhaa also won their games, notching up a convincing 3.5-0.5 win against Cuba. Tomorrow they will face the USA in a match that might easily decide the outcome of the young guns – medal or not? We caught up with five-time World Champion Vishy Anand, India’s chess superstar, in the playing venue. Vishy is not playing this year with team India because he is running for election. Amongst other things, we wanted to find out what he thought about Gukesh’s uncanny performance. You can watch the interview with Vishy here. Tomorrow’s other two top matches will feature Germany (2.5-1.5 against Serbia today) against Uzbekistan, who whitewashed Peru (4-0). Surprise winners Kazakhstan also have 12 points: they defeated Spain by a marginal 2.5-1.5 score in an up and down match that could have gone either way. Their opponent tomorrow will be Azerbaijan, another tough nut to crack. Of the other favourites, England, Ukraine and especially Poland are underperforming. However, with four rounds to go, anything can happen if a team can string together three in a row. Round 8 will be played on August 6 at 3 pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
India A Women’s team extends sole lead
Indian Women A notched their seventh successive victory against sixth seed Azerbaijan by a 2.5-1.5 score to maintain their sole lead in the Women’s section of the 44th Chess Olympiad with 14 points – two points ahead of second-placed Ukraine and Armenia. Indian eves suffered a few hiccups after Humpy ended up on the losing side in the first game to end. Tania and Vaishali once again rose to the occasion magnificently by scoring hard-fought victories, while Harika also battled hard to split the point. Tania and Ulviyya battling in a Queen’s Gambit Declined game matched pace for the most part till the middle game. A strayed knight on the king-side allowed Tanya to break through in the centre, and even though her opponent’s rook had invaded the seventh rank, Tanya managed to exchange most pieces and steered the game to a much better ending. Tanya eventually broke her opponent’s resistance and scored a full point on the move 63. Vaishali played splendidly in a drawish rook endgame, pressurizing her opponent with precise and active moves and finally pulled off so much-needed victory. Vaishali later confessed: “Till the 40th turn, my game was dead equal, and I considered settling for a draw. After Humpy’s loss, I had to keep pressing and, interestingly, this was one position which we had worked in the camp with Boris Gelfand, and I followed his suggestions to the ‘T’. A hallmark of the Women’s A Team has been the ability of every player to score a win when the team needed it most.” Abhijit Kunte said: “The way Harika, Vaishali and Tania continued in this pressure position is very heartening. The players understand the situation perfectly and deliver.” Georgia bounced back after yesterday’s loss to beat Romania 2.5-1.5, and Ukraine trounced Netherland 3.5-0.5, while Bulgaria held Poland to a 2-2 draw. India Women B team, seeded 11th, was shocked by 27th seeded Greece 1.5-2.5. Divya Deshmukh scored the lone victory for India, while Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan lost their encounters, and Mary Ann Gomes had to settle for a draw. India Women C defeated Switzerland by 3-1, with victories by Eesha Karavade and P V Nandhidhaa and draws by Bodda Pratyusha and Vasnawala Vishwa. The complete results for round 6 can be found at the official website for the Olympiad, https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Standings after round 7 can be found at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-standings.