Arish Mujawar, Pune
Arjun Erigaisi of India continued to play well in the 44th Chess Olympiad despite a run of draws in the earlier rounds. Top-ranked Indian player Erigaisi wasted a solid lead against Vokhidov Shamsiddin in Round 9 versus Uzbekistan. Vokhidov had made an earlier mistake, but Erigaisi lost a great chance to take advantage, and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
With this outcome, India—which leads with 17 match points at the moment—remains well-positioned to win gold in the Open division. Round 10 will see them take on the USA. Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion, voiced hope for India’s prospects, saying that everything appears to be coming together.
Anand acknowledged that games emotionally taxed him to the point where it hurt to simply look at his opponents. He wanted to know if Gukesh had gone through something similar following his loss to Abdusattorov two years prior.
“It was particularly distressing for me because not only did he lose, he also missed a clear opportunity to draw,” Anand stated. “I attempted to talk to Gukesh like a therapist a few times and enquired as to whether or not he had a lot of emotional baggage. His expression when he glanced at me was almost like, “What the hell are you talking about?” Anand remembered the episode and laughed. “So I’m going to assume he’s moved on from it.”
For this Olympiad, Uzbekistan, captained by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, will replace Ivan Sokolov. The rematch of D Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s 2022 battle at the top board resulted in a tie.
In Round 8, the Indian women’s team lost to Poland, which was a disappointment. Vantika Agrawal, however, was instrumental in averting a recurrence of the 2022 Olympiad, in which India lost to the United States and just about missed out on gold. She overcame Irina Krush, giving the Indian team a 2-2 draw.
In the meantime, Tania Sachdev made the potentially regrettable choice to draw against Alice Lee, who was 14 years old. Magnus Carlsen, the current world champion, was upset by Vladmir Fedoseev, which dropped Norway even deeper in the rankings. The current world champion, Ding Liren, wasted a winning position against Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran when they drew as well.