Chess Olympiad 2022: India B wins bronze medal as youngsters strike against Germany

New Delhi: India B has won the bronze medal in the open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai. After their game against Germany in round 11, India B stood third after Uzbekistan and Armenia who won gold and silver respectively.

It would not be wrong to say that Gukesh was the most valuable player for the Indian B team. He ended with a score of 9/11 as he drew two games and lost one, while he eight games in the tournament, defeating the likes of GM Fabiano Caruana. The team consisted of GM D Gukesh, GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Nihal Sarin, GM B Adhiban and GM Raunak Sadhwani. This is the third consecutive medal for India as the nation won gold in 2020 and a bronze in 2021.

In round 11, playing against Germany, Gukesh drew his game against Vincent Keymer while Praggnanandhaa drew with Svane Rasmus. It was Nihal and Raunak who scored victories and ensured a medal for India B.

India A, who was expected to finish on the podium, needed to win against the USA in round 11. A result of 2-2 made them out of the race for the podium finish as Arjun Erigaisi’s win against Leinier Dominguez Perez could not save India A. SL Narayanan lost to Sam Shankland while Harikrishna Pentala and Vidit Gujhrathi drew against Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So. However, Arjun’s win has made him cross the 2700 mark in the live ratings.

In the women’s section, India lost to the USA after Carissa Yip and Tatev Abrahamyan defeated Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni. They slipped for the top spot eventually as Ukraine won the gold medal.

GM Nihal Sarin vs GM Bluebaum Matthias

Nihal played the opening well and as Bluebaum gave him the chance to double his rooks on the e-file, he took an advantage of it. By constantly attacking black’s queen, Nihal managed to create a winning position for himself. However, he gave his opponent a chance to fight back.

Bluebaum was required to play the best moves to make a comeback, but slight inaccuracies gave Nihal a chance to get a decisive edge. Then 36…Bf5 by the German grandmaster proved to be a blunder. Nihal capitalised and won the game in a rook ending.

GM Raunak Sadhwani vs GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter

The game was roughly equal for the first 30 moves but, Nisipeanu gave a chance to Raunak and he grabbed it. With 30. Re5, Raunak played a series of good moves to create a comfortably winning position. Nisipeanu gave up his queen for a rook and a bishop but eventually blundered a bishop to just have two rooks and a passed pawn against a queen and a rook. He had to resign after white played 47. f5.