Chess Olympiad 2024, Round 6: Indian teams maintain unbeaten run to take sole lead

The opposition is getting stronger for India at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, but both the men’s and women’s teams do not seem to mind. In the sixth round on Monday, the second-seeded men beat host Hungary 3-1, while the top-seeded women defeated Armenia 2.5-1.5.

Having won all the matches, India took the sole lead in both the open and women’s sections going into the rest day.

It was Arjun Erigaisi who once again played a key role for the men’s team. After D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa drew on the top two boards, with Richard Rapport and Peter Leko respectively, India needed a win on the third board.

Arjun duly gave his team that. Remarkably, he posted his sixth win in as many games, as he outwitted Sanan Sjugirov. Vidit Gujrathi also won, on the fourth board, against Benjamin Gledura.

What Arjun has been doing in the open section, Divya Deshmukh has been doing for India in the women’s team. She beat Elina Danielian on the third board and that would prove the most valuable point for the day for her team: without her win, India would not have won the match.

On the top board, Dronvalli Harikia was held to a draw by Lilit Mkrtchian and on the second, R. Vaishali too drew, with Mariam Mkrtchyan. It was a draw in the fourth-board encounter between Tania Sachdev and Anna Sargsyan as well.