Chess Olympiad: India beat China to finish top in Pool A

Viswanathan Anand-led India defeated China to finish top of Pool A of FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. The Indian grandmasters defeated a formidable China in their final group game 4-2.

India (17 points) topped Pool A with three wins on the trot. They defeated Georgia, Germany and China respectively in the pool. China (16) and Germany (11) also made it through to the next round.

The winning streak ensured India reached the quarter-final.

Young guns shine against China

The match against China went down the wire as the first four games yielded a stalemate. Vidit, D Harika, Koneru Humpy and Harikrishna all settled for a stalemate. Vidit can take pride in the fact that he held off against world champion Ju Wenjun. D Harika also played a draw against the world champion.

Harikrishna’s draw came against Yangyi Yu while Humphy’s stalemate was against Hou Yifan.

However it was R Praggnanandhaa and Divya Deshmukh who came to India’s help with two consecutive wins in the eventual 4-2 win. The duo defeated Yan Liu and Jiner Zhu respectively.

R Praggnanandhaa gives India strong start vs Georgia

India won their first tie against Georgia 4-2 in the seventh round. In the seven rounds played, Viswanathan Ananad settled for a draw against Levan Pantsulaia in first encounter. This was followed by another draw for Koneru Humpy against Meri Arabidze.

India then suffered a blow as D Harika lost to Nino Batsiashvili. But R Praggnanandhaa and Divya ensured back-to-back wins to ensure India face Germany with confidence.
Round 8 was an easy affair as India defeated Germany 4.5-1.5. Vidit, Bhakti Kulkarni and Vantika Agarwal won their respective clashes. Harikrishna, Harika and Nihal Sarin drew their matches.

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