Chennai Chess Olympiad: Red-hot India 'B' team thrashes Estonia 4-0

Second-seeded India 'A' team defeated Moldova 3.5-0.5 for its second straight win.

July 30, 2022 08:54 pm | Updated July 31, 2022 01:07 pm IST - Mamallapuram

Players in action on day 2 of the 44th Chess Olympiad held at Mamallapuram on July 30, 2022.

Players in action on day 2 of the 44th Chess Olympiad held at Mamallapuram on July 30, 2022. | Photo Credit: R. Ravindran

The India 'B' team blanked Estonia 4-0 in the second round of the Open section in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram on July 30, 2022.

Second-seeded India 'A' team defeated Moldova 3.5-0.5 for its second straight win.

World champion Magnus Carlsen, who had missed the first round, beat Georg Meier to star in third-seeded Norway's 4-0 victory over Uruguay.

Follow The Hindu’s extensive coverage of the Chess Olympiad here.

The formidable USA team struggled for the second straight day in the Open section as the top seeds could only manage a 2.5-1.5 win over Paraguay after having dropped half a point against unfancied Angola on day 1.

In the women's section, top-seeded India 'A' took the winning lead against Argentina.

Koneru Humpy, playing on top board, was held to a draw by Marisa Zuriel in 44 moves but Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni notched up victories over Maria Campos and Maria Belen Sarquis respectively to give the team a second consecutive victory.

R Vaishali was involved in a battle against Maria Jose Campos on the second board.

The India 'B' team was battling it out against Latvia with Mary Ann Gomes providing a win over Nellija Maklakova. Padmini Rout drew her game with Ilze Berzina to put the team 1.5-0.5 ahead.

The third host team in the women's section -- India 'C' -- defeated Singapore 3-1. P V Nandhidhaa and Easha Karavade won their matches. Pratyusha Bodda and Vishwa Vasnawala were held to draws by Yang Hazel Liu and Kun Fang respectively.

The India B team, seen by many including world champion Magnus Carlsen and the legendary Viswanathan Anand as dark horses, won against Estonia without much fuss.

D Gukesh, on the top board, beat Kalle Kiik while R Praggnanandhaa, on the second board after being rested on Friday, beat Kirill Chukavin. There were wins for the experienced B Adhiban and Raunak Sadhwani against Aleksandr Volodin and Andrei Shishkov respectively.

For India 'A', the winners were P Harikrishna, S L Narayanan and K Sasikiran while fellow GM and fast-rising Arjun Erigaisi could only draw against Andrei Macovei. In the USA-Paraguay match, world No.4 Fabiano Caruana was held by Axel Bachmann as were Wesley So and Sam Shankland by Rami Delgado and M Ruben D Zacarias respectively.

Leinier Dominiguez Perez provided the winning point for USA by defeating Jose Fernando Cubas.

In other matches in the Open section, fourth-ranked Spain and fifth-ranked Poland notched up victories over Belgium. While Spain recorded a 3.5-0.5 win, Poland secured a 3-1 victory.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.