The Indian open and women’s teams were held to 2-2 draws in their respective ninth round matches at the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest on Friday.
While the open team drew against defending champions Uzbekistan, the women’s team were held by the United States of America.
D Gukesh played out a draw against world No 6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov while Vidit Gujarathi and R Praggnanandhaa were held by Jakhongir Vakhidov and Javokhir Sindarov respectively.
Arjun Erigaisi had the chance to give India the win but was held by Shamsiddin Vokhidov. With the draw, India’s eight-match winning run came to an end.
India are still on top of the standings with a two-point lead over the US with two rounds of matches to go.
In the women’s section, R Vaishali replaced Harika Dronavalli at the top board but lost to Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova.
Both Divya Deshmukh and Tania Sachdev played out draws in their respective games. However, Vantika Agrawal rescued the draw for India by beating Alice Lee in her match.
With 15 points, the Indian women’s team has dropped to second place with Kazakhstan on top with 16 points.
In the penultimate round, the women’s team will take on third-placed China who have 14 points.
The men’s team will take on second-placed USA in round 10.
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