India secured important wins in both the men’s and women’s sections in the the 45th Chess Olympiad held in Budapest, Hungary on Monday. The Indian men’s team defeated hosts Hungary, while the women’s team emerged victorious against Armenia. With these wins, India claimed the top position in both categories, having secured a perfect score of 12 points from 6 rounds.
In the men’s section, India scored a 3-1 victory against the host team, Hungary. Arjun Erigaisi extended his winning streak to six consecutive games as he defeated Sjugirov Sanan with black pieces. Meanwhile, Vidit Gujarathi emerged victorious in his match against Gledura Benjamin using white pieces. The remaining two matches involving D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa ended in draws.
Entering the 6th round, four teams had maintained a perfect score of 10 points, including India and Hungary. The other two teams in this category were China and Vietnam. These two teams faced each other and played out a 2-2 draw. With this result, both China and Vietnam now have 11 points each, placing them only one point behind India in the standings.
In the Women’s section, India registered a 2.5-1.5 victory over Armenia. Divya Deshmukh emerged as the winner in her match, defeating Danielian Elina with white pieces. Whereas, D Harika, R Vaisali, and Tania Sachdev played out draws in their individual matches.
India, Armenia and Mongolia had entered Round 6 with a flawless score of 10 points. Mongolia suffered a defeat against Georgia, with the match ending 1.5-2.5. Consequently, India now stands as the sole leader in the competition after Round 6, while Georgia and Poland are closely behind with 1 point less, having 11 points each.
The full tournaments consists of 11 rounds. Tuesday will be a rest day after 6 consecutive days of play. The action will resume on Wednesday, with one round played daily until Sunday, completing the entire event.
India’s full results till now:-
Men’s:
- beat Morocco 4-0
- beat Iceland 4-0
- beat Hungary B 3.5-0.5
- beat Serbia 3.5-0.5
- beat Azerbaijan 3-1
- beat Hungary 3-1
Women’s:
- beat Jamaica 3.5-0.5
- beat Czech Republic 3.5-0.5
- beat Switzerland 3-1
- beat France 3.5-0.5
- beat Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5
- beat Armenia 2.5-1.5