MAMALLAPURAM: The Indian teams were at the forefront at the 44th Chess Olympiad so far with India ‘A’ at the top of the table in the women’s division and the ‘B’ team in third place in the open event after six rounds.
The tournament has now reached its business end.
Led by Koneru Humpy, India-A are unbeaten in six games and meet Azerbaijan on Friday. A win would further the team’s cause and likely help set it apart from the rest of the field.
The other two home teams seem to have fallen behind after a good start and still have some catching up to do.
As Humpy said after beating Georgia on Wednesday, they “will have to face many more strong teams like Ukraine and so on in the coming days”.
Also, one of the players committed himself to the situation at different stages and is experienced Tanya Sachdev provided the all-important win a couple of times, as did R Vaishali.
“Our team spirit is high and whenever there’s a win there would always be one player from the team who would shine,” she added.
Humpy and co, who started number 1, should win a medal given the way they played in the first half of the Olympiad.
It is important, however, that the players remain calm and continue playing as before.
At the open event, India ‘B’ Team, which includes a bunch of talented teenagers – R PraggnanandhaaForm D Gukesh and Raunak Sadhwani — Aside from the experienced B Adhiban, Armenia saw their five-game winning streak come to an end in the sixth round on Wednesday.
Gukesh has had an illustrious winning streak, winning all of his six games so far and is expected to lead the B-Team in the coming days. The team must maintain the high standards to get their hands on a medal.
Second-placed Indian ‘A’ Team, in sixth place, will also be eyeing a strong result and given the squad members’ origins they could be looking for a medal.
Interestingly, the “A” team would meet the host’s “C” team in Round 7, and a sharp match is in store. Although the No. 2’s with P. Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi in the ranks should be favourites, they would not take their opponents lightly.
With five rounds remaining in the sport’s showpiece, the competition is expected to get tougher.
Indian Team Pairings for Round 7: Open Section: India “A” vs. India “C”, Cuba vs. India “B”
Women: Azerbaijan – India “A”, India “B” – Greece, India “C” – Switzerland.