Open Part

Olympiads are invariably characterised by the scramble to the highest of the factors desk within the last stretch of the competitors, nearly undeterred by early leads and preliminary performances. Thus, because the event entered the ultimate three rounds, the chess lovers of Chennai had been delighted to be served with high-voltage clashes on Sunday.

Match chief Armenia’s conflict with the Uzbekistan group was well-fought on all boards, and the underside tables proved to be the clincher for the latter. Sindarov prevailed over GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan with a sacrificial assault in a well-conducted recreation:

In distinction, GM Robert Hovhannisyan vs. Vakhidov was an extended, protracted battle. The younger Uzbek prevailed in an advanced endgame:

Though India 2 has completed a lot better than their preliminary seeding within the event thus far, it was by no means going to be simple for them to face a higher-seeded group. The highest board recreation between GM Dommaraju Gukesh and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov by no means appeared to cross the equal mark, however the GM Rauf Mamedov vs. GM Nihal Sarin encounter was extra uneven:

GM Nijat Abasov gave Azerbaijan the primary break by defeating GM Raunak Sadhwani in an advanced ending:

Then it was left to GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu to attain the equalizer for India 2 in a cliff-hanger of a battle towards GM Vasif Durarbayli. It’s analyzed as our recreation of the day:

After an upset loss towards Israel within the fourth spherical, the seventh-seeded Netherlands has steadily come again into the event scoring wins in all of the rounds apart from a draw towards France within the seventh spherical. It was anticipated that the Dutch would push for a podium end within the last stretch for a much-needed victory towards Thirteenth-seeded Iran on this spherical.

Iran has had an uneven occasion, as they had been held by the Forty fourth-seeded Canada within the fourth spherical and overwhelmed by the top-seeded U.S. within the sixth spherical. They got here again into the event with a much-needed win towards the Fifteenth-seeded France within the eighth spherical. It was anticipated that the Iranians additionally would attempt for a win within the essential ninth spherical. And it seemed very a lot attainable at one level.

After the bottom-table video games—GM Benjamin Bok vs. GM Pouya Idani and Max Warmerdam vs. IM Seyed Khalil Mousavi—ended attracts, the opposite two boards seemed equal for a very long time. Although GM Anish Giri sacrificed an trade towards GM Parham Maghsoodloo within the endgame, he could not progress within the resultant locked endgame:

Thus, it was left for the cliff-hanger recreation between GM Amin Tabatabaei and GM Jorden van Foreest the place the Iranian made an attention-grabbing trade sacrifice within the opening, an invention of GM Vladimir Kramnik. Additional, Tabatabaei even tortured his opponent in that acquainted nightmare of a chess participant—rook and bishop vs. rook endgame, however van Foreest defended steadily to pressure a draw:

One other attention-grabbing conflict of the day was between the top-seeded U.S. and Twenty fifth-seeded Greece. On the highest desk, after his uneven efficiency within the event thus far, GM Fabiano Caruana confirmed his aggressive intentions by adopting the sharp Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Protection and scored a formidable victory:

However on the second board, GM Levon Aronian mishandled a promising place and misplaced to GM Nikolas Theodorou:

Lastly, in an advantageous rook ending, GM Wesley So pressured his opponent to present the U.S. a profitable benefit:

Eire’s Murphy continues to impress and defeated his fourth grandmaster opponent for a rating of seven.5/8 within the event:

Ladies’s Part

Within the top-table encounter between erstwhile chief India and Poland, GM Harika Dronavalli appeared to construct up a transparent benefit towards GM Monika Socko:

The match turned in Poland’s favor when in-form Kiolbasa prevailed over Vaishali in a drawish ending when the latter tried to overpress:

Thus, Poland managed to defeat the event chief India 2.5-1.5. 

On the second desk, in a battle of heavyweights on the highest board, former world ladies’s champion GM Mariya Muzychuk missed a chance to realize a major benefit towards GM Nana Dzagnidze:

In one other all-GM encounter on the second board, GM Nino Batsiashvili defeated GM Anna Muzychuk in a tactical encounter:

On the fourth board, IM Nataliya Buksa equalized the scores for Ukraine by defeating IM Meri Arabidze in a kingside assault:

Kazakhstan’s win over Bulgaria featured a well-played recreation by GM Zhansaya Abdumalik:

See full outcomes right here.

The Forty fourth FIDE Chess Olympiad and Ladies’s Chess Olympiad are over-the-board group occasions the place nationwide chess federations compete in classical video games for gold medals, trophies, and the title of strongest chess nation on this planet. The occasion consists of an 11-round Swiss event the place every participant from a nationwide group performs towards one other participant from the opposing nationwide group. Groups obtain “recreation factors” for profitable or drawing video games and “match factors” for profitable or drawing a match. Groups with probably the most match factors for every part turn out to be the champions of their part, with a 3rd award going for the group with probably the most factors from each sections mixed.

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