Welcome to the live coverage of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai. Follow boards, streams and major updates from the marquee event in Mamallapuram.
RESULTS FROM MAMALLAPURAM:
Here is how the penultimate day went for India
In the open section, India 1 beat Iran 2.5-1.-5, riding on Vidit Gujrathi’s win on the second board. It was 2-2 between India 2 and Uzbekistan. The main talking point was D. Gukesh’s first loss in the tournament. It was 2-2 also between India 3 and Slovakia.
In the women’s section, India 1 beat Kazakhstan 3..5-0.5, India 2 beat Netherlands 3-1 and India 3 defeated Sweden, also 3-1.
BIG UPSETS TODAY. Oliwia Kiolbasa has dropped points after being held to a draw by Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia. She is still unbeaten in the tournament though but will be unhappy to see the glitch in a perfect record. Meanwhile, D Gukesh, who saw his tournament’s win streak halted by a draw against Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, suffered his first loss of the Olympiad today against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Track the India Women’s boards here:
Track the India Men’s boards here:
RESULTS FROM DAY NINE OF THE OLYMPIAD:
In Swiss league format, like the one used in the Chess Olympiad here, it is universally accepted that the performances of the last three rounds hugely influence a team’s eventual standing.
On that count, the Indian medal prospects suffered a setback in both sections in the ninth round but the possibility of a historic twin podium-finish remained. On the brighter side, four Indian teams emerged victorious on Sunday.
Before a crowded house, R. Praggnanandhaa saved the day for the much-followed India 2 against Azerbaijan by clinching a must-win game after Raunak Sadhwani’s loss saw the host trail by a point. After D. Gukesh’s eight-game winning sequence ended with a draw and Nihal Sarin signed peace, Praggnanandhaa showed his endgame prowess to make it 2-2.
Uzbekistan (16 match points), which held top seed USA last week, ended overnight leader Armenia’s undefeated run 3-1 with victories on the two lower boards to emerge as the front-runner. With two rounds to go.
India 2 and Armenia share the second spot with 15 points. If Praggnanandhaa pulled off a win to save India, his sister R. Vaishali required a draw to salvage a point for India 1. But that was not to be.
As India 1 faced a formidable Poland, Vaishali became Oliwia Kiobasa’s ninth successive victim in the competition. The lone decisive battle proved decisive since K. Humpy, D. Harika and Tania Sachdev were involved in drawn games.
Defeat for India 1 and the drawn encounter between Ukraine and Georgia, seeded two and three, saw Kazakhstan quietly join the leaders at 15 points after drubbing Bulgaria 3-1.
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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