Chess Olympiad 2024: Indian players dominate Day 1 with seven wins and a draw
Indian players dominated Round 1 of the Chess Olympiad 2024 in both the open and women’s sections at the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday, September 11. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in Hungary since Budapest hosted the second unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.
The Indian men’s team locked horns with the Moroccan team in the first round, winning all four encounters to initiate the competition on a dominating note. Praggnanandhaa R took on Mohammed Tissir and bagged a comfortable win.
On the other hand, Arjun Erigaisi took on Jacques Elbilia and registered a win. Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna secured wins over Pierre Ouakhir and Anas Moayad, respectively, in Round 1 of the Chess Olympiad 2024.
Meanwhile, in the women’s section, India competed with the Jamaican team, bagging three wins and a draw. Vaishali R started with a comprehensive win over Adani Clarke while Divya Deshmukh bagged a victory against Rachel Miller.
Tania Sachdev secured a win against Gabriella Watson. Vantika Agarwal, on the other hand, settled for a draw against Raehanna Brown. It was the lone draw of the first round for India in both open and women’s sections combined.
A total of 1884 participants, including 975 in the Open and 909 in the Women’s section, are part of the competition at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary. 197 teams from 195 nations in the Open section have registered for the event while 183 from 181 nations in the women’s section are part of it.
The second round of the Chess Olympiad 2024 started at 6:30 PM IST on Thursday, September 12.
Chess Olympiad 2024: Indian men’s team results
Praggnanandhaa R 1 - 0 Mohammed Tissir
Arjun Erigaisi 1 - 0 Jacques Elbilia
Vidit Gujrathi 1 - 0 Pierre Ouakhir
Pentala Harikrishna 1 - 0 Anas Moayad
Chess Olympiad 2024: Indian women’s team results
Vaishali R 1 - 0 Adani Clarke
Divya Deshmukh 1 - 0 Rachel Miller
Vantika Agrawal 1/2 - 1/2 Raehanna Brown
Tania Sachdev 1 - 0 Gabriella Watson
Chess Olympiad 2024: Open section standings
Chess Olympiad 2024: Women’s section standings