budapest: The Indian men’s team scored yet another thumping 3.5-0.5 points victory over Iran to stake claim for the gold medal in the Open section but the women suffered a shock 1.5-2.5 points defeat at the hands of Poland in the eighth round of the 45th Chess Olympiad currently underway here.
With their eighth victory in as many matches, the Indian men took their tally to 16 points and stretched their lead to a massive two points over nearest rivals Hungary and Uzbekistan with just three rounds left in the biggest chess event on the planet.
World No.4 Arjun Erigaisi started the rampage with black pieces and crashed through the defences of Bardiya Daneshvar who proved no match for the Indian. World Championship challenger D Gukesh then put it across Parham Maghsoodloo with black pieces, swindling the Iranian towards the end of the first time-control.
R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Amin Tabatabaei to make sure of an Indian victory and Vidit Gujrathi added to the team’s tally as he outclassed Idani Pouya in all departments of the game to give another huge victory to the team. For Arjun, this was another step towards the 2800-rating mark as he took his personal tally to a remarkable 7.5 points from eight games. In live ratings, Arjun is now at 2793 points, and if he does cross the 2800 mark, he will be the 16th player in history -- and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand -- to do so.
Taking a cue from Arjun, Gukesh made sure he kept closing in, and his victory took him to 2785 rating points. This is the first time ever that there are two Indians in top-five of the world rankings.
Gukesh also won with black and it was another Queen pawn game wherein the Indian chose to play the Dubov variation in the Tarrasch defense. Maghsoodloo went for some unwarranted complications and was caught off-guard as the clock ticked away in the middle game. Soon, the Iranian parted with a piece for a handful of pawns but fell prey to an easy tactical stroke.
In the women’s section, the Indian team faltered for once as Grandmaster D Harika continued to struggle with her form on the top board, going down to Alina Kashlinskaya. This was Harika’s third loss in
the event.
In a seperate development, An “embarrassed” All India Chess Federation has filed a police complaint after a Chess Olympiad trophy its team won in the last edition at home went missing from its office, forcing the sports body to arrange for a replica of the prized possession and tender
an apology. India was the last holder of the trophy, having won it here in 2022.