Samarkand (Uzbekistan) Sep 25 Reigning world champion D Gukesh led Indian men’s team to a 2.5-1.5 victory over Germany while the women’s team crushed Uzbekistan 3-1 in the ninth round of the 46th chess Olympiad here.
Gukesh struggled for the major part of the game but came back strongly to weave a checkmate web around the white king of Alexander Donchenkov.
It was this turn of events that turned the tide in favour of Indian men who were staring at a defeat against Germany.
The team took its tally to 15 points and remains in contention for a podium finish with two rounds remaining in the biggest chess festival on the planet.
Meanwhile Uzbekistan almost sealed the gold medal in the open section winning against top seeded American men.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Nodirbek Yakubboev came up with the winning blow against Fabiano Caruana and Hans Moke Niemann while the loss on the second board by Javokhir Sindarov against Wesley So did not matter much.
In the women’s section, the Chinese team continued to lead the tables thanks to another 3-1 victory over Armenian women.
The Chinese took its tally to 17 points in all and now enjoys a two-points lead over nearest rivals including India whom they are likely to meet in the penultimate round.
In the open section, it may be already going in favour of the local Uzbek team but in the women’s the Indian team still hold a chance if they can beat China in what could be a decider.
However, Zhu Jiner leading the team on board one may have another think coming, as Koneru Humpy is not at her best.
The game against Donchenkov mattered a lot to Gukesh who turned the table after being on the verge of a defeat.
The Indian ace is turning out to be a great fighter once again and this should hold him in good stead going into the world championship match later this year.
The other three games were drawn with Praggnanandhaa signing peace with Vincent Keymer, Arjun splitting the point with Matthias Bluebaum and Nihal Sarin achieving the same result against Fredrik Svane.
In the women’s section things were a lot easier for Indian eves as Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal scored easy wins while Humpy and Savitha Shri were held to draws.
(PTI News)
