44th Chess Olympiad 2022 R8: India vanquishes USA, Gukesh now India #2 and World #20

Indian Women maintain their sole lead

India 1 Women is a full point ahead of Georgia. They will face Poland in Round 9. Germany lost to Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5. The Uzbeks have a similar line-up as India 2 with only one player over 25-years-old and rest are all born on or after 2002. Lithuania beat Croatia 2.5-1.5. Norway was held to a 2-2 draw by Slovakia. Both India 3 Open and Women lost their respective matches to Peru and Poland.

Open: USA - India 2: 1-3

GM D Gukesh (2684) and GM Raunak Sadhwani (2611) scored perhaps their biggest victories of their career so far against former world championship challenger GM Fabiano Caruana (2783) and GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2754) respectively. GM Nihal Sarin (2651) and GM Praggnanandhaa R (2648) also showed their class as they drew with world no.6 GM Levon Aronian (2775) and world no.7 GM Wesley So (2773).

Caruana - Gukesh

31.Nc5 was a positional mistake which allowed Gukesh to seize his advantage 31...Qd5. 32.Qe2 Rxa3 33.Rd1 Rfa7 34.g4 worsened things further for White hxg4 35.hxg4 Nh6. Although 35...Bxc5 would have been a relatively quicker finish for Black.

Raunak - Leinier

Raunak Sadhwani made a fantastic positional sacrifice 21.Nbd4. The game proceeded 21...exd4 22.Bxd4 Rg8 23.Rdg1 Nf8 24.Bxf6 Bxf6 25.Rh5+ Nh7 26.e5 g6 27.Qh6

Black's kingside is completely crippled. 27...Rg7 28.exf6 Qxf6 29.Rb5 and White went on to win the game after a great sequence of moves.

Armenia - India 1: 1.5-2.5

GM Gabriel Sargissian (2698) grinded a relatively equal endgame against GM Pentala Harikrishna (2720) until the latter made a mistake which cost him the game.

Gabriel - Harikrishna

Sometimes inaction is the best thing to do. If Black doesn't play 44...e5, there is no good way for White to make a progress. Even after 44...e5, it was possible to defend the game. However, it became excruciatingly difficult with the time getting lower by the second.

Women: India 1 - Ukraine: 2-2

All four games between India 1 and Ukraine ended in draws.

Croatia - India 2: 0.5-3.5

WGM Vantika Agrawal (2371), IM Padmini Rout (2374) and WGM Divya Deshmukh (2319) scored victories against their lower rated opponents. Only WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2324) was held to a draw by WFM Tihana Ivekovic (2082).

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Schedule

Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. IST from 29th July to 8th August 2022. The final round on 9th August starts 10 a.m. IST. Rest day is on 4th August 2022.

Replay Round 8 Open games

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Round 8 Open results

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Round 9 Open pairings

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Round 8 Women results

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Round 9 Women pairings

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