Chess Olympiad 2020
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Chess Olympiad
After the Quarter Finals, India faced Poland who beat Azerbaijan in Armageddon.
The contest between the two was a treat to watch as today's spectating almost reached 50 thousand viewers.
Round 1 pairings,
Viswanathan Anand VS Jan- Krysztof-Duda.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi VS Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
Humpy Koneru VS Monika Socko.
Harika Dronavalli VS Karina Cyfka.
Nihal Sarin VS Igor Janik.
Divya Deshmukh VS Alicja Silwicka.
Results-
India lost to Poland by a margin of 4-2.
On Board 1, Viswanathan Anand sir had a game which was quite anti position with too many weaknesses. At the end he lost the game.
On Board 2, Vidit had an amazing game but few passive moves gave a window of opportunity to his opponent and his opponent checkmated him.
On Board 3, Humpy had a positional disadvantage but she managed to draw the game.
On board 4, Harika had the black pieces and she is playing really solid with the black pieces and had a draw.
On Board 5, our trickster Nihal sacrificed 2 pawns but end up with an active position and in the end game had three pawn advantage in a similar colour bishop endgame which he comfortably won.
On Board 6, Divya had an Equalish position, which later on she took advantage but due to time trouble she blunder which was followed up the checkmate.
Poland played really well, there were so many ups and downs but in the end they kept their nerve and was able to win the round.
In Round 2 pairings India replaced their young guns Nihal and Divya with Praggnanandha and Vantika and there was only one change for Poland which was Grzegorz Gajewski for Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
This was do or die situation for India in the must win Round. The stakes were so high and indeed the players delivered.
Results- India won by the margin of 4.5-1.5.
On Board 1, Viswanathan Anand Sir it seemed like an equalish game but his experience game clutch at the end which he was able to convert for the win.
On Board 2, our Captain Vidit played a super aggressive game which stunned his opponent and won the game.
On Board 3 and 4, both Humpy and Harika won as India had a enormous strength in women's division which they were able to exploit for a win.
On Board 5, Praggnanandha lost his first match and for the first time seemed as he had some trouble with his opponent.
On Board 6, Vantika had an amazing position but end up drawing the game.
By India winning this round the Score was even and it was the time of Armageddon.
Armageddon is a format in which the player with the white pieces gets 5 minutes to the 4 minutes given to the player with black pieces. But there is a catch that player with white pieces has to win the game or else a draw or a win is sufficient for the player with black pieces.
In Armageddon, the clash was between Koneru Humpy and Monika Socko.
Humpy is the champion of Women's Rapid Tournament and she is quite well prepared for this pressure situation where as Monika won the Armageddon against Azerbaijan that made possible for Poland to reach the Semi Finals.
After the toss it was decided Monika will be taking the white pieces whereas Humpy got the black.
Monika charged for the attack but Hunpy remained rock solid trying to exchange pieces. She simplified the position till she was confident enough to win the match and checkmated the White's King.
Therefore winning the match and making sure India reaches Finals.
Now the Semi Finals between United States Of America and Russia will decide who will India face. It would be a encounters to watch as Russia is the top seated team and USA is the third seated team in the tournament.
Wishing India all the best for the Finals.
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