India’s highest-ranked player Arjun Erigaisi maintained his 100 percent record by winning his sixth successive game while Divya Deshmukh secured her fifth win in six games as the Indian teams won their respective matches in the sixth round of the Open and Women’s sections of the 45th Chess Olympiad here on Monday.
The Indian men’s team defeated hosts Hungary 3-1 in the Open section while in the Women’s competition, they got the better of Armenia 2.5-1.5 to remain in the top position in the points tally after the sixth round.
By winning their respective sixth-round matches, the Indian teams continued to top the standings in both the Open and Women’s sections of the prestigious tournament.
In the Open section, third-seeded China were held 2-2 by Vietnam with World Champion Ding Liren suffering his first defeat, after four draws, of the tournament against Le Quang Liem on the top board. This gave India the sole possession of the lead in the Open section with China and Vietnam sharing the second position with six other teams including Iran, Uzbekistan, France and Ukraine.
Seeded second in the Open section, the Indian men’s team thrashed ninth-ranked Hungary 3-1 with Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi winning their games on the third and fourth boards respectively.
While Hungary’s top-rated players Richard Rapport and Peter Leko held World Championship Challenger Dommaraju Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa to draw on the top two boards, Arjun and Vidit won their games in dominating fashion to secure India a comprehensive victory in the sixth round.
Rapport held Gukesh in 44 moves of a game in which both players failed to gain much advantage while on the second board, former World Championship finalist Peter Leko drew with Pragg in 45 moves.
On the third board, World No.4 Arjun outplayed GM Sanan Sjugirov with black pieces, gaining an early edge and ruthlessly pressing home the advantage for a dominant win. On the fourth board, Vidit Gujarathi overcame Grandmaster Benjamin Gledura with white pieces, precisely moving his pieces to comprehensively defeat an opponent rated nearly a hundred points lower than him.
In the women’s section, Dronavalli Harika and Vaishali Rameshbabu had to share the point with lower-rated players. Harika (2502) was held to draw by the experienced International Master Lilit Mkritchian (2366) while Vaishali (2498) had to share the point with Mariam Mkrtchyan (2326).
With Tania Sachdev also drawing with Anna Sargsyan, Divya Deshmukh saved the day for India by defeating Elina Danielian (2393) with white pieces on the third board as India won the match 2.5-1.5 on the top table.
In the women’s section, the Indian team maintained its hold on the top spot with its sixth win in six matches. Georgia, USA and Armenia are in many teams following close behind in the second position.
With Tuesday being a rest day, the wins augur well for both the Indian men’s and women’s teams as they now can go into the second half of the tournament with good chances of winning the titles.
