Chess Olympiad Day 1 Highlights: India completes clean sweep on opening day; No losses for host

Follow live updates, commentary and news from day 1 of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram.

Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram. Track the Indians in action and all other major results here | Photo Credit: FIDE

Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram. Track the Indians in action and all other major results here.

Here’s the complete breakdown of results wrt the Indian contingent from day 1. Open section:

FIDE OLYMPIAD DAY 1	OPEN CATEGORY	RESULTS
INDIA	TAJIKISTAN	SCORE/RESULT
Vidit Gujrathi	Makoto Rodwell	1-0
Arjun Erigaisi	Masango Spencer	1-0
Narayanan S.L.	Mushore Emarald Takudzwa	1-0
Sasikiran Krishnan	Zhemba Jemusse	1-0
INDIA	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	SCORE/RESULT
D Gukesh	Al Hosani Omran	1-0
Nihal Sarin	Sultan Ibrahim	1-0
Adhiban B	Mohamed Saeed Laily	1-0
Raunak Sadhwani	Abdulrahman Mohammad Al Taher	1-0
INDIA C	SOUTH SUDAN	SCORE/RESULT
Sethuraman S.P.	Rehan Deng Cypriano	1-0
Abhijeet Gupta	Ajak Mach Duany	1-0
Karthikeyan Murali	Gong Thon Gong	1-0
Abhimanyu Puranik	Peter Majur Manyang	1-0

The Women’s category saw a few difficult matches with the likes of Koneru Humpy and Tania Sachdev facing trouble in their games. All’s well that ends well as the women also cruised to wins to finish a triumphant day for the host.

FIDE OLYMPIAD DAY 1	WOMEN'S CATEGORY	RESULTS
INDIA	TAJIKISTAN	SCORE/RESULT
Koneru Humpy	Nadezhda Antonova	1-0
Vaishali R	Sabrina Abrorova	1-0
Tania Sachdev	Rukhshona Saidova	1-0
Bhakti Kulkarni	Mutriba Hotami	1-0
INDIA B	WALES	SCORE/RESULT
Vantika Agrawal	Olivia Smith	1-0
Soumya Swaminathan	Kimberly Chong	1-0
Mary Ann Gomes	Hiya Ray	1-0
Divya Deshmukh	Khushi Bagga	1-0
INDIA C	HONG KONG	SCORE/RESULT
Eesha Karavade	Sigappi Kannappan	1-0
Nandhidhaa P V	Deng Jing Xin Crystal	1-0
Varshini Sahithi M	Li Joy Ching	1-0
Pratyusha Bodda	Lam Ka Yan	1-0

6PM: Results have started coming in from Mahabalipuram.

• Raunak Sadhwani from Team B was the first player to register a victory with the White pieces against Abdulrahman M in a Sicilian Defence game lasting 41 moves. Enjoying space advantage, Raunak broke through on the King’s side after the exchange of minor pieces and dragged the King into a checkmating net with the queen and rooks combining efficiently.
• Koneru Humpy came back from an inferior position to defeat Nadezhda Antonova, much to the relief of the India A team. She was expected to win the encounter; she is among the world's strongest female players and is rated 754 Elo points above her rival from Tajikistan. Humpy, with black pieces, won in 41 moves. Antonova could not recover from her unwise 24th move; she lost a piece and, before long, the game.

We have all the boards of the Indians in action today. Check out each of them in our live coverage. Stay with us for exclusive analysis from our reporters at the venue and from Viswanathan Anand.

LIVE BOARDS

New to chess? Wondering how to understand or read the chess board? Here’s some assistance:

For the complete dashboard of games being played today, visit Sportstar’s Chess Olympiad homepage.

INDIANS IN ACTION:

India A vs Zimbabwe

GM Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2714 - IM Makoto, Rodwell 2346 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2689 - Masango, Spencer 2170 GM Narayanan, S.L. 2659 - Mushore, Emarald Takudzwa 2153 GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2638 - Zhemba, Jemusse 2162

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CHESS OLYMPIAD IN CHENNAI

The  Chess Olympiad is being held in India for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1927 with the honour coming to Chennai, considered the chess capital of the country. This is also the first time in 30 years that the Olympiad is coming to Asia.

Photo: PTII

Prime Minister Modi also handled the Draw of Colours. As chosen by him, India will start with black on day 1, as will tournament favourite USA.

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Photo: B Jothi Ramalingam

In a symbolic gesture, Viswanathan Anand passed on the Olympiad relay torch to Indian team members and Grandmasters D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and S Vijayalakshmi.

Photo: AFP

A dance set conceptualised by Vignesh Shivan portrayed the cultural fabric of Tamil Nadu.

Photo: PTI

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin inaugurated the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Thursday.

1 / 10

If you’ve missed the Olympiad hype train, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about the biggest event in the game in brief:

• The event will see the highest number of countries participating in an Olympiad
• Nearly 350 teams in the Open and women’s sections from 187 countries will be in fray. Of these, 188 teams are in the Open section and 162 in the women’s.
• Previously, the Batumi Olympiad in 2018 had set the record with 184 and 150 teams in the Open and women’s sections, respectively, from 179 countries. 
• India’s 30-member squad will be their biggest squad ever. 
• Given Russia and China’s non-participation, India Team A is seeded second while the USA tops the ranking list.

No pressure at all, huh? | Photo Credit: FIDE

Here’s who will be making the ceremonial first moves today

The first moves will be made today by:

Anurag Thakur, Indian Minister of Sport - First IND board (open)

Sanjay Kapoor, president All India Chess Federation - First board IND WOMEN team

Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President - USA board

WHERE TO WATCH THE 44TH FIDE CHESS OLYMPIAD

Live streaming of the Chess Olympiad will be available on the official YouTube channel of FIDE Chess Olympiad. The event will be telecast live on the Doordarshan TV channel in India. You can follow the boards and all the analysis from matches on each day on Sportstar too.