Chess Olympiad: In-form Indian men face China, women up against Georgia

On a roll after six consecutive victories, the Indian men’s and women’s teams will take on China and Georgia, respectively, in the seventh round of the 45th Chess Olympiad here tomorrow, aiming to consolidate their lead and inch closer to maiden gold medals at the prestigious event. Past the halfway stage, the Indian teams have shown strength, controlled aggression and necessary resilience and it looks like they are pretty much on their way to scripting history.

In the open section, Arjun Erigaisi and World Championship challenger D Gukesh have been the mainstay for Team India with the former scoring a staggering six points out of his six games and the latter amassing 4.5 points from his five games played thus far.

The contribution of Vidit Gujrathi is also immense on the fourth board as he has scored five points from his six games while R Praggnanandhaa has scored 3.5 points from his five allotted games.

The match against China will be a key contest for India as other formidable opponents like top-seeded USA and defending champions Uzbekistan are behind in the standings on nine and 10 points, respectively.

The match against China might also see Ding Liren take charge on the top board against Gukesh as this would be their last contest before the World Championship clash in Singapore in October.

In the women’s section, India face their biggest test yet in second-seeded Georgia. Experience may be on Georgia’s side in this contest but the likes of Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and R Vaishali have proven beyond any doubts that this young Indian team is ready to take on anyone.