Uzbekistan in the Open section and Ukraine in the Women’s section emerged Champions in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Hotel Four Points by Sheraton at Mamallapuram, near Chennai here today. Uzbekistan and Armenia tied for the top spot in the Open section with 19 match points, Uzbeks landed the Gold with superior tie-break. India 2, with 18 match points, finished third and got awarded the Bronze medal.
In the Women’s section, Ukraine and Georgia won the team gold and silver with 18 match points. Superior tie-break helped Ukraine finish on the top. Team India with 17 match points took the bronze medal. In the final round today, India lost to USA 1-3 failing to add any point. Ukraine and Georgia overtook India thanks to their big final round wins over Poland and Azerbaijan respectively.
For the hosts India, the final round did not go in its favor. Indian women who had performed exceedingly well faltered in the last round. Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and International Master Vaishali R drew their games against the USA. In the third and fourth board IM Tania Sachdev and WGM Bhakti Kulkarni lost their games. The 1-3 defeat in the hands of the USA pushed India from the Gold to Bronze medal position.
In the Open section, team India did well to hold top seed USA to a 2-2 draw. National Champion Grandmaster Erigaisi Arjun defeated GM Dominguez Perez Leinier in the third board. GM Sam Shankland pulled one back, defeating Grandmaster S L Narayanan in the fourth board.
The young team India 2 did themselves and the country proud winning the crucial final round match against Germany 3-1. Draws in the first and third boards by GMs Gukesh D and Praggnanandhaa R laid a solid foundation. The hard fought wins by GMs Nihal Sarin and Sadhwani Raunak gave India 2 a much needed final round victory. By defeating Germany, team India 2 finished third winning the bronze medal. This performance emulated India’s only bronze medal achieved in the Chess Olympiad 2014 at Tromso, Norway.
On the individual front, India landed seven board prizes. They were, two gold medals, one silver and four bronze. This is in addition to the two team bronzes that India won in this edition. Further, India was awarded the Gaprindashvili Cup for the best performing federation (combined sum of Open and Women sections).
Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju (9/11) who played outstanding chess throughout got the Gold medal for the top board. GM Gukesh D received the gold medal from five times world champion Viswanathan Anand. The Gold medal for the second board went to Grandmaster Nihal Sarin for his 7.5/10 performance.
Indian National Champion Grandmaster Erigaisi Arjun (8.5/11) won the silver medal in the third board for team India. The bronze medal in the third board went to Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa R (6.5/9) from team India 2.
On the women’s side, International Master Vaishali R playing in the third board for team India got the bronze medal for her 7.5/11 performance. International Master Tania Sachdev (8/11) and Woman Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh (7/9) won bronze medals in the fourth and fifth boards.
In a grand closing held at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, Periamet, Chennai the team and individual medals were awarded to the winners by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru M K Stalin. The 44th Chess Olympiad concluded when the FIDE flag was handed over to Mr Szabó László, President, Hungarian Chess Federation which is scheduled to hold the next Olympiad in 2024.
Rank/Team(Match Points/SB): Open
Men Team
- Uzbekistan (19/435), 2. Armenia (19/382.5), 3. India 2 (18/427.5), 4.India (17/409), 5.United States of America (17/352), 6.Moldova (17/316.5), 7.Azerbaijan (16/351.5), 8.Hungary (16/341.5), 9.Poland (16/322.5), 10.Lithuania (16/297), 11.Netherlands (15/362.5), 12.Spain (15/356.5).
Rank/Team(Match Points/SB): Women
Women team
- Ukraine (18/413.5), 2. Georgia (18/392), 3. India (17/396.5), 4.United States of America (17/390), 5.Kazakhstan(17/352), 6.Poland (16/396), 7.Azerbaijan (16/389), 8.India 2 (16/369.5), 9.Bulgaria (16/361), 10.Germany (16/344.5), 11.Hungary (16/340.5), 12.Armenia (16/333).
Board prize winners from India:
Board 1 – Gold – Gukesh D (India 2)
Board 2 – Gold – Nihal Sarin (India 2)
Board 3 – Silver – Arjun Erigaisi (India)
Board 3 – Bronze – Praggnanandhaa R (India 2)
Women
Board 3 – Bronze – Vaishali R (India)
Board 4 – Bronze – Tania Sachdev (India)
Board 5 – Bronze – Divya Deshmukh (India 2)
Congratulations to the individual board medal winners
Link for Results Open : https://chess-results.com/tnr653631.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30
Link for Results Women : https://chess-results.com/tnr653632.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30
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