India shares lead, Italy upsets Norway.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen led Norway went down to lower seeded Italy in the third round even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin made a surprise visit to witness the progress of the 44th Chess Olympiad at Hotel Four Points by Sheraton, Mamallapuram here today.
Keeping a clean slate in the Open section with three wins in a row were USA, India, Italy, France, Uzbekistan among others. Sharing the lead in the Women’s section were India, Ukraine, Georgia, Poland and France. The hat-trick of wins gives the Open and Women’s teams 6 match points.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by AICF President Dr Sanjay Kapoor and five times world champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The CM is showing genuine interest in the event. His desire to bring the chess Olympiad to Chennai by fully funding the event is a very good gesture which will be remembered by all for years to come.
As rounds creep in the seriousness of teams is increasing gradually. Players arrived 10 to 15 minutes before the scheduled time and even World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen is no exception. The Italy – Norway top board game saw GM Daniele Vocaturo holding GM Magnus Carlsen to a comfortable draw. Losses in the lower boards saw higher seed Norway going down to Italy by 1-3 margin.
Indian men rode on twin victories from Harikrishna and Erigaisi Arjun registering a 3-1 win over Greece. India 3 overcame Iceland by a similar margin. India 2 meanwhile showed the youth power as they swept Switzerland 4-0 thanks to quick wins by GMs Gukesh, Nihal and Raunak.
Praggnanandhaa was made to sweat a bit before he snatched the full point after 67 moves and some good fortune. Chennai boy Praggu got into a king in the centre situation, making his extra pawn of no avail. GM Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) forced him to give up the pawn on a back rank through a check-mate threat. The Grandmaster from Switzerland kept pressing with just a couple of minutes on the clock. He finally got a good position, but blew it up and lost on time by the 38th move.
In the women’s section India beat England 3-1 in the top board, with Vaishali and Bhakti scoring key wins. Further down India 2 women defeated Indonesia by a similar score. WGM Vantika Agrawal and IM Sowmya Swaminathan brought home the point, while IM Padmini Rout and WGM Mary Ann Gomes drew their games. India 3 prevailed over Austria with a narrow 2.5-1.5 score.
In key top board fourth round Open pairings, France faces India, while USA takes on Uzbekistan. In the women’s section India meets Hungary and Bulgaria clashes with Ukraine in the second board. With a hat-trick of wins the momentum is with the hosts India, which is likely to be challenged by USA, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, India 2, The Netherlands and Poland to name a few.
The fourth round is scheduled to start by 3pm IST on Monday, 1st August, 2022.
Open section: Main Results Round 3:
India (10.5) beat Greece (8.5), Georgia (9) lost to United States of America (9), Italy (10.5) beat Norway (8.5), Spain (10.5) beat Brazil (8.5), Australia (9) lost to Poland (9.5), Azerbaijan (10) beat Argentina (9), Sweden (6) lost to Netherlands (10.5), Ukraine (10) drew with Cuba (10), Austria (9.5) beat Germany (8.5), England (9.5) beat Lithuania (8), Switzerland (7) lost to India 2(12), Armenia(9.5) beat Egypt (7.5).
Women: Main Results Round 3:
England (8) lost to India (10.5), Ukraine (11) beat Slovakia (7.5), Czech Republic (7.5) lost to Georgia (9), Poland(10.5) beat Vietnam(7), Italy (7.5) lost to France (11), Azerbaijan (10.5) beat Greece (8.5), Mongolia (11) beat United States of America (8), Germany(10) beat Switzerland (8), Estonia (9.5) beat Armenia (9.5), Kazakhstan (10) beat Peru (9), Indonesia (9) lost to India 2 (10.5), Hungary(9.5) beat Colombia (9).
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