Savitha saves the day for Indian women; open team held

A late equaliser from B. Savitha Shri helped the Indian women draw with Kazakhstan in the Chess Olympiad on Thursday. The men’s team also was held to a draw by Azerbaijan at Samarkand.

With the tournament in its business-end, it indeed was not ideal for India, the defending champion in both the sections. It could, of course, have been much worse if Savitha hadn’t been able to pull off that hard-fought win against Elnaz Kaliakhmet.

The 19-year-old from Chennai has been having a dream Olympiad debut in Uzbekistan. She has won all her seven games and is well poised to win an individual medal regardless of how her team fares. She was in a must-win situation on this day, as India was trailing 1-2, thanks to R. Vaishali’s loss to Alua Nurman on the second board. Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh had drawn their games.

It was a drawn rook-pawn ending, but once Kaliakhmet erred, Savitha ensured she converted the advantage and won in 62 moves. That earned India a precious match point and now has 13 points, two less than the sole leader China. On 14 points are Kazakhstan, Armenia and Mongolia.

In the open section, India is in the joint second position with 13 points, one behind the leaders Uzbekistan and Germany.

All the Indian players drew with their Azerbaijan rivals.

The day’s biggest upset was provided by Germany, which won 2.5-1.5 against Uzbekistan to open up the race to the top spot. Only three more rounds remain.

Important results (eighth round): Open: India drew with Azerbaijan 2-2 (R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Arjun Eriagisi drew with Aydin Suleymanli; D. Gukesh drew with Mahammad Muradli; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Rauf Mamedov).

Germany bt Uzbekistan 2.5-1.5; Armenia drew with Netherlands 2-2; USA bt Serbia 3.5-0.5; China bt Poland 2.5-1.5; Czech Republic drew with Hungary 2-2; France bt Iran 2.5-1.5; Uzbekistan (2) bt England 2.5-1.5; Ukraine bt Belarus 2.5-1.5; Spain bt Montenegro 2.5-1.5; Turkiye bt Canada 2.5-1.5; Greece bt Moldova 3-1; Israel drew with Vietnam 2-2.

Women: India drew with Kazakhstan 2-2 (Koneru Humpy drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva; R. Vaishali lost to Alua Nurman; Divya Deshmukh drew with Meruert Kamalidenova; B. Savitha Shri bt Elnaz Kaliakhmet).

Uzbekistan bt Netherlands 3-1; China bt Georgia 2.5-1.5; Mongolia bt Bulgaria 2.5-1.5; Armenia bt USA 2.5-1.5; Greece bt Ukraine 2.5-1.5; Argentina drew with Azerbaijan 2-2; France bt Italy 3.5-0.5; Poland bt Iran 2.5-1.5; Germany bt Austria 2.5-1.5; Belarus bt Serbia 2.5-1.5; Indonesia bt Switzerland 2.5-1.5; Czech Republic drew with Hungary 2-2; Canada bt Spain 3-1.