Chess Olympiad: Gukesh misses his chance as India drew with Azerbaijan; Savitha Shri wins seventh game

Defending champions India were held to 2-2 draws by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the Open and women’s sections respectively at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. The Indian men remained joint second, while the women also stayed in joint-second position.

Samarkand: Defending champions India lost an opportunity to surge into the top spot as they were held 2-2 by Azerbaijan in the eighth round of the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand on Thursday. In the women’s section, India’s B Savitha Shri continued her onward march by scoring a seventh successive win as India were held 2-2 by Kazakhstan.

The men’s team remained in joint second position in the Open section with 13 match points, even as table-toppers Uzbekistan (14 match points) were stunned by Germany and are now sharing the top spot with the hosts.

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R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, D. Gukesh and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who returned to the team to replace Nihal Sarin, were all held to a draw by their opponents for a 2-2 result with Azerbaijan.

Things turned topsy-turvy at the top with Germany upsetting Uzbekistan 2.5-1.5 thanks to wins by Frederik Svane and Rasmus Svane over Nodirbek Yakubboev and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, respectively.

The highlight for Indian fans in the 2-2 draw was the Gukesh versus Muradli Mahammad on the third board, in which the reigning World Classical Champion missed a chance to close out the game.

Playing white pieces in a Sicilian Najdorf game, Gukesh went for an ambitious queen move, but Muradli Mahammad came up with an accurate reply and responded with some crafty queen moves of his own. In a queenless endgame, Muradli locked down the centre and activated his king as Gukesh tried some aggressive moves to create an attack by making space on the queenside.

The two players tried their best under severe time pressure before agreeing to a draw in 56 moves, with Muradli putting up a stout defence.

On the other boards, Praggnanandhaa was held by the experienced Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Arjun Erigaisi was held by Aydin Suleymanli with white pieces, while Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew with Rauf Mamedov.

After the eighth round, Uzbekistan and Germany share the top spot with 14 match points, with eight teams including India, China, Netherlands and the USA in the joint second spot with 13 points.

In the women’s section, defending champions India were held to a 2-2 draw by Kazakhstan as they remained in joint-second spot.

On the top board, Koneru Humpy was held to a draw by Bibisara Assaubayeva, as did Divya Deshmukh against Meruert Kamalidenova, both playing with black pieces.

Savitha Shri won her game against Elnaz Kaliakhmet and saved India’s day after Vaishali Rameshbabu had lost to Nurman Alua as the defending champions missed an opportunity to jump into the lead.

The win meant Savitha Shri has now won seven out of seven games for an astronomical rating performance of 2955.

In the top-table clash, hosts Uzbekistan defeated Netherlands 3-1; China remained on top of the standings with a 2.5-1.5 win over Georgia, while Mongolia handed Bulgaria a 2.5-1.5 win.