Chess Olympiad: Indian men inch closer to gold

The Indian teams settled for draws in the ninth round of the 45th Chess Olympiad.

In the open section, the Indian men conceded their first point of the event with four draws against defending champions Uzbekistan.

Arjun Erigaisi fought a long battle with Shamsiddin Vakhidov after D Gukesh, R Praggnanadhaa and Vidit Gujrathi played out draws with Nodirbek Andusattorov, Javokhir Sindarov and Jakhongir Vakhidov, respectively.

India are likely to retain the sole lead on 17 points and this was another step towards a historic maiden gold medal.

In the women’s section, International Master Vantika Agrawal delivered when it mattered most as she defeated Grandmaster Irina Krush, helping India secure a 2-2 draw against United States.

The Indian think tank rested an out-of-form Grandmaster D Harika but it did not change the fortunes much on the top board as R Vaishali went down to Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova while Divya Deskhmukh played out an easy draw as black against Carissa Yip.

On the fourth board, Tania Sachdev, who had a position of strength, could not find the best attacking moves to force matters and settled for a draw with Alice Lee. This left Vantika to equalise the score and the youngster played with a lot of heart and commitment to beat her higher-rated opponent as black.

The draw took India to 15 points and it looks like the team will now need two victories to keep the gold medal chances alive. Kazakhstan are threatening to overtake India on points.