Russia has produced 12 of 20 the World chess champions. A bunch of talented young Russians proved that the future of their country was bright in the mind sport, as they won the World Youth Olympiad with a round to spare.
Their 2.5-1.5 victory at the Karnavati Club on Sunday over Armenia in the eighth round took them to the maximum 16 points, that is, a three-point lead over their closest rival India Green. So, even a defeat in the final round on Monday will not matter.
India Green, the strongest team of the host, is the best-placed to take the runner-up spot. It has 13 points after its comprehensive 3-1 win against Uzbekistan.
India Green is followed a point behind by Iran. India Red has 10 points and India Blue nine.
Russia coach Mikhail Kobalia could not hide his delight after his boys completed the match. He shouted with joy as soon the players came out of the venue. “We were confident of winning the title here,” said the Grandmaster, who was once ranked World No. 100. “Our strongest rival here was Iran, to whom we had lost before. So it felt nice to get the revenge.”
Important results (eighth round):
Russia bt Armenia 2.5-1.5.
India Green bt Uzbekistan 3-1 (Aryan Chopra lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev; R. Praggnanandhaa bt Shamsiddin Vokhidov; Nihal Sarin bt Saidakbar Saydaliev; P. Iniyan bt Daler Vakhidov).
India Blue lost to Iran 1-3 (Kushagra Mohan lost to Amin Tabatabaei; Rahul Srivatshav lost to Alireza Firouzja; Rakesh Kumar Jena drew with Aryan Gholami; Aronyak Ghosh drew with Mahdi Gholami).
India Red bt Turkey 2.5-1.5 (S. Jayakumaar drew with Deniz Ozen; Arjun Erigaisi bt Ekin Ozenir; Mitrabha Guha bt Emre Dedebas; Harshita Guddanti lost to Duru Okuyaz).
Mongolia lost to Belarus 1-2.
Argentina lost to Kazakhstan 1.5-2.5 .
