World Champion Magnus Carlsen strode into the playing hall of the 44th Chess Olympiad and the buzz turned into a palpable excitement. That Norway decided to rope in Magnus for the second round showed that they didn’t want to risk anything even in the early rounds. To keep abreast of others, American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana also joined the fray completing the presence of super stars for the day. The spectacular venue, Hotel Four Points by Sheraton, Mamallapuram showcased games full of excitement in both the sections. USA, India, Norway, Spain and Australia led the Open section with 4 match points along with several other countries. The lead in the Women’s section remained with India, Ukraine, Georgia, Poland and France among others.
The Norwegian World Champion could not make any dent into Grandmaster Georg Meier’s French defence. The position was equal with the only consolation for Magnus was that black could not castle. Keeping the rook on h8, Meier brought his king to g8 and further upped the attack with counter play in flank. He kept pushing the pawns to h5 and h4 causing threats, as well maintaining the positional imbalance. Meier played extremely well but missed a certain draw in the queen and pawn ending due to time pressure and Magnus bagged the full point after 80 moves. The hard fought win gave Norway a 4-0 victory over Uruguay.
Top seed USA pulled off a narrow 2.5 – 1.5 victory over Paraguay. Grandmaster Dominguez Perez was the man of the day, picking the lone win against GM Cubas Jose Fernando in a Sicilian game that lasted 31 moves. FM Zacarias M Ruben D (2175) held on well to draw GM Sam Shakland (2720). Ruben made light of the vast ELO rating difference with a quick 32 move draw in the fourth board. Earlier, GMs Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So dropped half points to lower rated players, adding pressure in the lower boards.
India defeated Moldova 3.5 – 0.5 in the Open section, where National Champion and Grandmaster Erigaisi Arjun shed a half point against lower rated IM Macovei Andrei (2478). Harikrishna Pentala, Narayanan SL and Sasikiran Krishnan won their games to keep India on track. India 2 blanked Estonia 4-0, while India 3 squeezed a narrow 2.5 – 1.5 win over Mexico. With Ganguly, Sethuraman and Abhijeet Gupta drawing their games, Grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali (2613) saved the day scoring over IM Capo Vidal Uriel (2215).
The Indian women’s top team had some tense moments in their 3.5 – 0.5 win over Argentina today. In the top board, Goddess Caissa smiled on Grandmaster Koneru Humpy who got into a cramped queen side ceding the space advantage to Woman International Master Zuriel Marisa. According to experts the Indian Grandmaster was fortunate that Marisa missed her chances early into the middle game. Humpy quickly recovered with a series of accurate moves and turned the inferior position into an equality and drew the game in 44 moves.
In the second board, International Master Vaishali’s opponent Woman FIDE Master Campos Maria Jose (Argentina) offered a couple of pawns for counterplay but drifted in the middle game. It was a battle of wits, between Vaishali’s persistence and Campos’s resilience. The Indian showed grit in eking out a crucial win after 90 moves.
India 2 women’s team scored a similar 3.5 – 0.5 win over Latvia, while India 3 women brought down Singapore 3-1. The Chess Olympiads were started in 1924 and we are marching towards the hundredth year by 2024. This Olympiad is the penultimate one just before the centenary edition.
Open section: Main Results Round 2:
Moldova (4.5) lost to India (7.5), United States of America (6) beat Paraguay (5.5), Norway (7.5) beat Uruguay (3), Belgium (4.5) lost to Spain (7.5), Poland (7) beat Colombia (5), The Philippines (5) lost to Azerbaijan (7), The Netherlands (6.5) beat Portugal (5.5), Albania (4) lost to Ukraine (8), Germany (7) beat Finland (5), Singapore (5) lost to England (7), India 2 (8) beat Estonia (4), Andorra (4) lost to Armenia (7)
Women: Main Results Round 2:
India (7.5) beat Argentina (4), Turkey (5) lost to Ukraine (7), Georgia (6.5) beat Lithuania (5.5), Croatia (4) lost to Poland (7.5), France (8) beat Egypt (4), Finland (4) lost to Azerbaijan (8), United States of America (7) beat Uzbekistan (5), Denmark (5) lost to Germany (7), Armenia (8) beat Norway (4), Belgium (5) lost to Kazakhstan (7), India 2 (7.5) beat Latvia (4.5), Ireland (5) lost to Hungary (6.5)
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