On September 20, 2024, the Indian women’s team, led by Grandmasters R Vaishali and Vantika Agrawal, triumphed over Georgia in the seventh round of the 45th Chess Olympiad. Meanwhile, the men’s team, under the leadership of World Championship challenger D. Gukesh, continued their winning streak by defeating China.
Vaishali and Vantika secured victories against Lela J. and Bela Kotenashvili, respectively. The women’s team won the match 3-1, while the men’s team edged out China with a score of 2.5-1.5. D. Harika played to a draw against Nana Jagnidze, and Divya Deshmukh also drew her game against Nino Batsiashvili.
With this victory, the Indian women’s team now has 14 points from 14 matches, placing them ahead of Poland, Kazakhstan, and France, who are trailing by two points. In the open section, Gukesh defeated China’s Wei Yi. There was a possibility of a showdown between Gukesh and World Champion Ding Liren, who is set to compete in the World Championship in Singapore this November; however, China opted to rest Liren.
R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Yangyi Yu, while P. Harikrishna also ended in a draw against Wang Yu. The match between Arjun Kalyan and Bu Xiangzhi concluded in a draw as well.
With four rounds remaining in the tournament, Iran is in second place with 13 points, following India. In the next round, the Indian men’s team will face Iran, and the women’s team will compete against Poland.
