In the women's section, India will be up against Poland, with Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli facing Alina Kashlinskaya. Here is your ready reckoner for India's round 8 matches at FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024
The Indian chess juggernaut continues to roll in Budapest, as the men and women both stand unbeaten after seven rounds of competition at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad. Up next, the men take on Iran, while the women face Poland on Thursday (September 19, 2024). Watch the teams in action live online, starting at 6:30pm IST. (More Sports News)
D Gukesh (Elo rating 2764) vs Parham Maghsoodloo (2723)
R Praggnanandhaa (2750) vs M. Amin Tabatabaei (2714)
Arjun Erigaisi (2778) vs Daneshvar Bardiya (2598)
Vidit Gujrathi (2720) vs Idani Pouya (2599)
Harika Dronavalli (2502) vs Alina Kashlinskaya (2490)
Vaishali Rameshbabu (2498) vs Monika Socko (2422)
Divya Deshmukh (2483) vs Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (2404)
Vantika Agrawal (2370) vs Alicja Sliwicka (2373)
The journey so far has been nothing short of groundbreaking for India, with the young guns firing on all cylinders and displaying composure beyond their years, especially with their end games in many cases.
In round 7, Grandmaster R Vaishali and Vantika Agrawal put up impressive performances as the Indian women defeated Georgia, while World Championship challenger D Gukesh led the men to a remarkable victory over China.
Vaishali and Vantika notched up wins against Lela Javakhishvili and Bella Khotenashvili as Indian women thumped second seeds Georgia 3-1, while the men eked out a 2.5-1.5 over China.
On a day that saw D Harika settling for a draw with Nana Dzagnidze and Divya Deshmukh being held by Nino Batsiashvili from a better position, it was Vantika who handled her time pressure extremely well to play almost 20 moves with just about a minute on her clock to win her game and seal India's seventh straight victory.
The Indian women took their tally to an impressive 14 points out of a possible 14 and stretched their lead to two points over nearest rivals Poland, Kazakhstan and France who all have 12 points apiece.
In the open section, Gukesh showed the way. Playing the white side of a Closed Sicilian Gukesh reached a drawn endgame after nearly five hours of play but he remained focus to find one mistake that was made by Chinese top board Wei Yi.
Speculation was rife about a possible clash between D Gukesh and Ding Liren – the two contestants in the next World Championship for a final showdown ahead of their match in Singapore in November. But the Chinese think tank decided to rest the reigning world champion.That was already a shock for the pundits of the game.
R Praggnanandhaa played out a quick draw as black against Yangyi Yu of China while P Harikrishna pressed for some time before the position petered out to be equal in the ensuing rook and pawns endgame against Wang Yue of China on the fourth board.
Earlier, Arjun Erigaisi went for the kill against an alert Bu Xiangzhi and the latter found a nice piece sacrifice to force a draw through repetition.
With just four rounds to come, the Indian men have done everything correct thus far and are sitting pretty with a 100 percent score like their female counterparts.
Iran is the only team in close pursuit of the leaders on 13 points while a pack of four teams – Serbia, Hungary, Armenia and defending champions Uzbekistan share the third spot on 12 points each.
When will India's round 8 matches at Chess Olympiad 2024 be played?
The Indian round 8 matches at Chess Olympiad 2024 will be played on Thursday, September 19 from 6:30pm (India time) onwards in Budapest, Hungary.
Where will India's round 8 matches at Chess Olympiad 2024 be telecast and live streamed?
India's round 8 matches at Chess Olympiad 2024 will be live streamed on the official YouTube channel of the International Chess Federation (called FIDE chess). They will not be telecast on any TV channel in India.
(With PTI inputs)