Arjun Erigaisi won his fifth game in a row at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary as the Indian team in the open section beat Azerbaijan 3-1 on Sunday.
The Indians continued their winning run in the competition as world championship challenger GM Gukesh Dommaraju took down Aydin Suleymanli with the white pieces on the top board. The 18-year-old Gukesh made no mistakes as he landed in a superior position out of the opening and cruised to win the first game of the tie for India.
Erigaisi followed the suit on the third board as he took down GM Rauf Mamedov with the white pieces. The 21-year-old world No 4 showed no signs of slowing down as he won his fifth consecutive game at the Olympiad to hand India a 2-0 lead.
Pragnnandhaa Rameshbabu and Vidit Gujrathi, both playing with the black pieces, held their respective opponents to a draw as India took down Azerbaijan with ease.
India will next take on hosts Hungary in the sixth round of competition Monday.
India women beat Kazakhstan
The Indian women’s team, meanwhile, beat Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5 in their fifth round match on Sunday.
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu grinded out a long win against IM Meruert with the white pieces on the second board, while IM Vantika Agrawal struck with the white pieces on the fourth board to give India the much needed two wins in the contest.
Earlier, GM Harika Dronavalli had lost her top board game against IM Bibisara Assaubayeva with the black pieces, putting the Indian team under pressure.
IM Divya Deshmukh, playing with the black pieces, played the team game as she extended her stay on the board until Vaishali completed her win before settling for a draw against WIM Xeniya Balabayeva.
The Indian women’s team will face off against Armenia in the sixth round on Monday.
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