Chess Olympiad 2024, Round 8: India’s dream run continues as it beat Iran 3.5-0.5
Team India’s dream run at the Chess Olympiad 2024 continued after it thrashed a well-looked Iran 3.5-0.5 in the open section at the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday.
D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi made light work of their Iranian counterparts while R. Praggnanandhaa played his fifth draw on the bounce, giving a comprehensive win for the men’s team.
However, the Indian women’s team was handed a first loss by the Polish team. After winning six consecutive rounds, India lost 1.5-2.5.
The top two boards disappointed India today as Monika Socko beat R. Vaishali with black pieces whereas Harika Dronavalli’s poor run saw her dropping the game against Alina Kashlinskaya.
Vantika Agrawal squandered her winning position against Alicja Sliwicka and had to settle for a draw while the only win in the women’s section came from Divya Deshmukh.
Divya won her sixth match in eight rounds in this tournament. She defeated Aleksandra Maltsevskaya while playing with the black pieces.
The Nagpur girl has accumulated an 11.8 Elo rating from the 45th Chess Olympiad and is currently World No. 13 with a live rating of 2494.8.
India, which was the runaway leader in both sections ahead of this round continues to hold on to its lead with 16 match points in the open section while it is a three-way tie for the top spot between India, Kazakhstan and Poland in the women’s section after eight rounds, with each team having 14 match points.