India’s top team held by France, Mongolia hold Carlsen’s Norway

After a flawless opening three days for the six Indian teams competing in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram, the fourth round on Monday brought mixed fortunes. The top Indian team in the open section—seeded second behind United States—was held by France as P Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan all played out draws.

Harikrishna, playing with black pieces against Jules Moussard, triggered an exchange of queens in his 16th move, setting the tone for a fast-paced contest. While Moussard was a pawn up in the end game, neither player had the ammunition to force a win.

Also Read | The future of chess is in India: Aronian

For the top Indian team in the women’s section, a similar result seemed to be in the offing when Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R Vaishali drew against their Hungarian opponents. Tania Sachdev ensured it won’t be the case with a well-earned victory against Zsoka Gaal. India have won all their four ties.

Humpy was also in a winning position for most part of her game against Trang Thanh Hoang, but couldn’t capitalise on her advantage. It put more pressure on Sachdev to not fritter away the advantage she held in her own game.

“I did have a look at her game because the other two boards drew early. But it was difficult to evaluate her position. My own game was very complicated. When she finished, I knew I was in a better position and had to be precise. This is just a part of team events,” Sachdev told reporters.

In the open category, the strong India B also made it four wins to take the top spot in the standings. Facing a stern test against Italy, who beat Norway 3-1 on Sunday, D Gukesh and Nihal Sarin notched up victories while R Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani were held.

The second Indian women’s team beat Estonia 2.5-1-5.

Gukesh and his opponent Daniele Vocaturo were evenly placed after the opening exchanges. The scales tilted in the Tamil Nadu youngster’s favour once the Italian moved his black bishop to f6 in his 19th move. Gukesh did not look back from there. Vocaturo having held world champion and No 1 ranked Magnus Carlsen to a draw on Sunday offers a fair indication of Gukesh’s impressive display.

India C suffered comprehensive defeats in both sections. The open team lost to Spain 1.5-2.5 while the women lost to Georgia 1-3.

Caruana loses, Uzbeks hold US

United States were delivered a rude reminder to get their act together by Uzbekistan. They were held 2-2 by the Central Asian nation with Fabiano Caruana slumping to defeat against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The 17-year-old Uzbek is the world champion in rapid, defeating Carlsen on way to the crown. On Monday, he showed he is equally at ease in the classical format.

“We were always confident of a good performance. This feels like a loss for us rather than any achievement,” Uzbek captain Ivan Sokolov said. “You have to ask the US team whether this is an upset. A win is what we were after.”

Norway played out a 2-2 draw against Mongolia. Carlsen, after being held to a draw on Sunday, bounced back with a victory against Dambasuren Batsuren. It was little consolation given that none of his teammates registered a win.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.