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.
This is how the day went for India in the open section. The main team thrashed Moldova 3.5-0.5, thanks to victories from Pendyala Harikrishna, S.L. Narayanan and Krishnan Sasikiran, with only Arjun Erigaisi playing out a draw. The India 2 fared even better, crushing Estonia 4-0; D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, B. Adhiban and Raunak Sadhwani all won their games. India 3 defeated Mexico 2.5-1.5, riding on Karthikeyan Murali's win against Urial Capo Vidal on the fourth board. Surya Shekhar Ganguly, S.P. Sethuraman and Abhijeet Gupta drew their games.
In the women’s event, the main team made short work of Argentina 3.5-0.5. While Koneru Humpy had to be content with a draw on the third board, R. Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni ensured that the top seed lived up to the expectations.
India 2 also scored 3.5-0.5 victory, over Latvia. There were wins for Vantika Agrawal, Soumya Swaminathan and Mary Ann Gomes, while Padmini Rout drew on the second board.
India 3 defeated Singapore 3-1. Eesha Karavade and P.V. Nandhidhaa were the architects of the victory, winning the top two boards. Pratyusha Bodda and Vishwa Vasnawala finished with draws.
07:46PM: The India 2 men’s team scored a crushing 4-0 victory over Estonia. D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, B. Adhiban and Raunak Sadhwani all won their games.
07:30PM: India’s main men’s team is well placed against Moldova. Pendyala Harikrishna, on the top board, and S.L. Narayanan, on the third, won their games, against Ivan Schitco and Vladimir Hamitevici respectively. Arjun Erigaisi had to settle for a draw on the second board, though – with Andrei Macovei.
07:27pm: Koneru Humpy was held to a 44-move by draw by Marisa Zuriel on the top-board clash between top seed India 1 and Argentina. Though the host was forced to drop half-a-point from that game, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni posted wins over Anapaola Borda Rodas and Maria Belen Sarquis respectively.
7:00 pm: On the second board too, India 3 (Women) didn’t have to struggle too hard for the full point. P.V. Nandhidhaa, who had white pieces, defeated an erratic Hng Mei-En Emmanuelle in 34 moves.
6:45PM: Eesha Karavade, with black pieces, won in 34 moves against Angela Khegay, whose pawn push 12 moves earlier had given the Indian the advantage. The Singapore player followed it up with more such moves to make the job easier for Eesha. India 3 thus got the full point from the top board.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
The second round will feature some interesting clashes: USA vs Paraguay and Moldova vs India will put the two top teams to the test, while there is a very good chance that World Champion Magnus Carlsen – who was spotted playing soccer this afternoon near the venue – will make his first game of this edition against Uruguay’s lucky first board.
Here’s the complete breakdown of Indian players in the fray today. You can track their progress here:
| FIDE OLYMPIAD DAY 2 | OPEN CATEGORY | RESULTS |
| INDIA | ARGENTINA | SCORE/RESULT |
| Harikrishna Pentala | Schitco Ivan | 1-0 |
| Erigaisi Arjun | Macovei Andrei | 1/2-1/2 |
| Narayanan S.L. | Hamitevici Vladimir | 1-0 |
| Sasikiran Krishnan | Baltag Iulian | 1-0 |
| INDIA | ESTONIA | SCORE/RESULT |
| D Gukesh | Kiik Kalle | 1-0 |
| Praggnanandhaa R. | Chukavin Kirill | 1-0 |
| Adhiban B | Volodin Aleksandr | 1-0 |
| Raunak Sadhwani | Shishkov Andrei | 1-0 |
| INDIA C | MEXICO | SCORE/RESULT |
| Surya Shekhar Ganguly | Hernandez Guerrero Gilberto | 1/2 - 1/2 |
| Sethuraman S.P. | Ibarra Chami Luis Fernando | 1/2 - 1/2 |
| Abhijeet Gupta | Diaz Rosas Julio Cesar | 1/2 - 1/2 |
| Karthikeyan Murali | Capo Vidal Uriel | 1-0 |
Here’s who the women go up against today. Take a look at the boards here:
| FIDE OLYMPIAD DAY 2 | WOMEN'S CATEGORY | RESULTS |
| INDIA | ARGENTINA | SCORE/RESULT |
| Koneru Humpy | Zuriel Marisa | 1/2 - 1./2 |
| Vaishali R | Campos Maria Jose | 1-0 |
| Tania Sachdev | Borda Rodas Anapaola S | 1-0 |
| Bhakti Kulkarni | Sarquis Maria Belen | 1-0 |
| INDIA B | LATVIA | SCORE/RESULT |
| Vantika Agrawal | Rogule Laura | 1-0 |
| Padmini Rout | Berzina Ilze | 1/2 - 1./2 |
| Soumya Swaminathan | Ter-Avetisjana Agnesa Stepania | 1-0 |
| Gomes Mary Ann | Maklakova Nellija | 1-0 |
| INDIA C | HONG KONG | SCORE/RESULT |
| Eesha Karavade | Khegay Anjela | 1-0 |
| Nandhidhaa P V | Hng Mei-En Emmanuelle | 1-0 |
| Pratyusha Bodda | Liu Yang Hazel | 1/2 - 1/2 |
| Vishwa Vasnawala | Fang Kun | 1/2-1/2 |
WATCH DAY 02 LIVE HERE: LIVE STREAM
OPEN CATEGORY:
As usual in the first round of the Chess Olympiad, most of the favourites scored the win - the top three teams, the United States, India and Norway, all started with solid victories.
All eyes on tournament favourites USA: Top seed USA defeated Angola by a clear 3.5-0.5 to start their campaign on a positive note. As has long been the norm for most of the top teams in the first round, where there is often a big disparity in the strengths of teams, the number one USA player GM Fabiana Caruana decided to save energy and gave up his seat to GM Sam Shankland, the teams theoretical number five reserve player.
WOMEN’S CATEGORY:
It was a walk in the park for most teams but for Tania Sachdev, it was a different story.
Long after her teammates K. Humpy, R. Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni cruised to expected victories against opponents from Tajikistan, Tania was still busy trying to find a breakthrough against her lowly-rated rival Rukhshona Saidova. Finally, she managed to capitalize on a blunder on the 83rd move and closed out the game in 103 moves.
It was indeed a great show of resilience from Rukhshona, rated 1624, against Tania’s 2399. All other Indians, across three teams, won with varying degrees of ease.
MATCH OF THE DAY:
GM Levon Aronian, therefore, moved up to the first board, but the three-time Olympian for Armenia quickly drifted into trouble with some over-enterprising opening play. However, luck was on his side when his opponent, Angola’s board one IM David Silva, accepted a draw in an arguably winning position.
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.
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.
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.
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