India men’s team winning streak at the Chess Olympiad 2024 came to an end after defending champion Uzbekistan handed it a 2-2 draw in the ninth round of the open section at the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre in Budapest, Hungary on Friday.
D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi all drew their respective games to ensure India remains on top of the points table.
While World No. 5 Gukesh played out a tough match and forced World No. 6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov for a three-fold repetition draw, Vidit and Jakhongir Vakhidov blitzed out the moves to draw the match within the first 10 minutes.
Javokhir Sindarov put tremendous pressure on Praggnanandhaa with his deep opening preparation but the latter assumed control towards the end to draw the game.
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Arjun, however, would be disappointed to not convert a better position against Shamsiddin Vokhidov.
The Indian women’s team also drew their round 2-2 against the USA.
India dropped out-of-form Harika Dronvalli from the top board to play R. Vaishali there but this didn’t change India’s fortune at board No. 1 after Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova punished Vaishali for overpressing.
Tania Sachdev drew from a favourable position against Alice Lee while Divya Deshmukh played a solid game to share the spoils with Carissa Yip.
It was yet again Vantika Agrawal who came to rescue the women’s team as she converted a beautiful Ragozin Defence of Queen Gambit Declined game against Irina Krush.
The draw also meant India slipped to second position with 15 match points while Kazakhstan reached the top with 16 match points with two more rounds left.
In the open section, the Indian team still holds a two-match-point edge over the second-placed team. The USA ranks second while Uzbekistan slipped to third.
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