PC: TN DIPR
16-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju with an 8/8 score has made this Olympiad his own. Gukesh’s stunning win against GM Fabiano Caruana (USA) helped India 2 sweep USA 3-1 in the eighth round of the 44th Chess Olympiad at Hotel Four Points by Sheraton, Mamallapuram, Chennai here today. Armenia continued their top of the table position with 15 match points. India 2 and Uzbekistan stay right behind at 14 match points.
Indian women maintained their lead with a hard fought 2-2 draw against Ukraine. With seven wins and a draw Indian women kept their top position with 15 match points. Former Olympiad Champions Georgia trail India by a point at 14 match points.
With Humpy, Harika and Tania drawing their games, all hinged on Vaishali’s game today. Vaishali, showing great resilience, saved a difficult position against GM Ushenina Anna of Ukraine. “Vaishali’s draw today is equal to a win,” said Hungarian chess legend GM Judit Polgar. Indian women are striving hard towards Olympiad Gold, with in-form Vaishali and Tania leading the march.
In the talk of the day, team India 2 stunned top seeds USA 3-1 winning the first and fourth boards. GM Gukesh accounted for GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Sadhwani Raunak stopped GM Dominguez Perez Leinier. The middle boards saw GMs Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi and Erigaisi Arjun drew super GMs Levon Aronian and Wesley So respectively.
“India 2 is the most dangerous team,” quipped World Champion Magnus Carlsen at the start of the tournament. Carlsen’s words are Prophetic as the young India 2 team is rolling over one team after the other. Grandmaster Gukesh’s 8/8 is the backbone of team India 2’s show so far. Gukesh’s on track for an individual Gold medal on the top board. GMs Nihal Sarin (5.5/7), Praggnanandhaa (4/6) and Sadhwani Raunak (4.5/6) carry even chances for a medal.
With just 3 more rounds left, the spectators throng the Olympiad Venue in large numbers. The waiting queues keep swelling each minute. They patiently wait for their turn to enter. As the guards allow spectators in batches as one batch leaves the hall. The lounges, lawn, food court & the interconnecting roads are full of chess enthusiasts, players and journalists. And what is in store for the 9th round on Sunday, is anybody’s guess. Having said that, the hall per se is quiet and calm that you can hear a pin drop.
The ninth round is scheduled to start by 3pm IST on Sunday, 7th August, 2022.
Key ninth round pairings: Open section: India 2 (14) – Azerbaijan (13), Uzbekistan (14) – Armenia (15), Netherlands (13) – Iran (13), Greece (12) – USA (12), India (12) – Brazil (12). In the women’s section it is: Poland (13) – India (15), Ukraine (13) – Georgia (14), Bulgaria (13) – Kazakhstan (13), Azerbaijan (12) – Mongolia (12), Germany (12) – England (12).
Open section : Main Results Round 8: Armenia (22) beat India (21.5), United States of America (19) lost to India 2 (25.5), Germany (20.5) lost to Uzbekistan (25.5), Kazakhstan (21.5) lost to Azerbaijan (22), Netherlands(23.5) beat Hungary(21), Iran(22) beat France (21.5), Ukraine (21.5) drew Brazil (21), India 3 (19) lost to Peru (19), Lithuania (20) beat Croatia (20.5), Slovenia (20.5) drew Czech Republic (22.5), Chile (20.5) drew Romania (21), Canada(18.5) lost to Turkey (23)
Women: Main Results Round 8: India (23) drew Ukraine (23), Georgia (22) beat Armenia (23), India 3 (19.5) lost to Poland (24.5), Romania (20) drew Azerbaijan (22), Kazakhstan (22) beat Slovakia (17.5), Bulgaria (23.5) beat Greece (21.5), Mongolia (22.5) beat Hungary(20), United States of America (22) drew Czech Republic (19.5), Vietnam (19) lost to Germany (21.5), Spain(23.5) beat Italy (20), Netherlands (19.5) beat Peru (21), Serbia(18.5) lost to Indonesia (23.5)
The press release is available in:
This press release/content is translated with Ailaysa: AI Translation Platform. You can translate your content instantly and edit and customize it with professional editors. Save time and money; publish your news faster! Translate FREE now!
