Indian teams extend winning streak at the Chess Olympiad

Indian teams resumed their winning run in the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad with all three earning easy triumphs over their respective opponents in Mamallapuram on Sunday

India ‘A’, the second-seeded team, defeated Greece 3-1 thanks to victories from GMs P Harikrishna and Arjun Erigaisi. India ‘B’ defeated Switzerland 4-0, and the third team defeated Iceland 3-1.

While K Sasikiran was being held by Evgenios Ioannidis, Vidit S. Gujrathi, representing India A, agreed to a draw with GM Nikolaos Theodorou on the second board.

Harikrishna claimed that after defeating Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, his opponent had put up a fair fight and had developed a good combination of moves in the closing stages.

“The pairing will determine if we meet the other Indian team. We don’t care about the teams; we care about playing the games, he remarked.

Given how well the Indian teams have performed thus far, they may cross paths during the competition.

With a 3-1 victory over the 24th seed Georgia, the top-seeded Americans firmly established their dominance. Lev Aronian and Sam Shakland successfully completed the task by defeating Mikheil Mchedlishvili and Tamaz Gelashvili, respectively, whereas Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominiguez Perez were unable to win.

The three Indian teams won the women’s competition for a third day in a row. Despite Koneru Humpy’s absence, the ‘A’ team defeated England 3-1 thanks to victories from R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni.

In addition to the two virtual Olympiads where India won a gold and bronze medal in the mixed edition, Dronavalli Harika was fielded for the first time in this Olympics and is now playing for India for the ninth time straight.

Harika, a 31-year-old woman who is nine months along in her first pregnancy, was paired up against Jovanka Houska of England. On the top board, she was unable to force a victory.

P V Nandhidhaa and Pratyusha Bodda’s wins over Austria helped the third host team defeat them 2.5-1.5. Esha Karavade and Varshini Sahiti drew their matches against Katharina Newrkla and Nikola Mayrhuber, respectively.