The Indian teams competing in the open and women’s section of the Chess Olympiad 2024 are on the verge of creating history by winning the country’s first gold medals in the competition.
The team competing in the open section lead the table with 19 points at the end of Round 10 on Saturday, in Budapest, Hungary. They beat the team from the United States 2.5-1.5 and are now two points ahead of second-placed China.
The women’s team are now joint leaders with Kazakhstan on 17 points after Round 10 after picking up a 2.5-1.5 win over a depleted Chinese team on Saturday.
Candidates winner Gukesh Dommaraju came up with a win over world No 3 Fabiano Caruana on the top board with the Indian using the white pieces.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, using the black pieces, was beaten on the second board by Wesley So.
Arjun Erigaisi however, while using white pieces beat Leinier Dominguez Perez while Vidit Gujrathi drew with Aronian Levon to secure the win for India.
India, who have never won gold at the Chess Olympiad before, (although they did share the 2020 title with Russia, which was held virtually), need only a draw to confirm the gold medal when they take on Slovenia in the final round of the competition on Sunday evening.
An unchanged Indian lineup will play Slovenia, with Gukesh using black pieces to take on Vladimir Fedoseev in the top board.
Praggnanandhaa faces Anton Demchenko on Board 2, Erigaisi plays Jan Subelj and Gujrathi plays Matej Sebenik.
Indian women beat China
In the women’s section, Divya Deshmukh picked up a crucial win over Ni Shiqun, which put India in a strong position in the tournament.
Harika Dronavalli drew with Zhu Jiner on the top board while Vaishali Rameshbabu and Vantika Agrawal drew Guo Qi and Lu Miaoyi respectively.
Deshmukh’s win gave India the crucial point to claim the win in the Round 10 match and bring them level on points with Kazakhstan, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Georgia.
The Indians will take on Azerbaijan in the last day of play.
India has named an unchanged lineup for the match on Sunday. Dronavalli will be on the top board using the white pieces against Gunay Mammadzada. Vaishali will take on Ulviyya Fataliyeva on the second board.
Deshmukh plays Govhar Beydullayeva and Vantika Agrawal, with the black pieces, plays Khanim Balajayeva.
Should India and Kazakhstan remain tied on points after Round 11, it will go down to a tiebreak which India has an advantage in.
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