CHENNAI: India went into the Chess Olympiad with a lot of expectations but had to settle for the sixth spot in the Open section in Batumi, Georgia. The return of five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand into the team and India’s stirring shows in the last two Olympiads (bronze in 2014), (4th in 2016), besides training camps created a lot of buzz before the event but the team fell short of a podium finish in the end.
Going into the final round, India had an outside chance of winning a medal. However, they finished one spot below their seeding after a 2-2 draw against Poland. India got off to a flying start, winning their first three matches. The team suffered a minor setback in the fourth round, going down to top seeds USA, with Anand’s loss against Fabiano Caruana on the top board being the only decisive game.The real turning point came in the ninth round, when India lost to Armenia. Krishnan Sasikiran came second best against youngster Haik Martirosyan on the fourth board after the top three boards had ended in draws.
Except for draws with Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda and a defeat against Fabiano Caruana, Anand had a good tournament, gaining 3.8 rating points. He alsohad the best performance rating among Indians (2799). Pentala Harikrishna remained undefeated for the second straight Olympiad, finishing the event with a + 4 score on the second board, and adding 5.6 points to his rating. Sasikiran and Baskaran Adhiban also did well on the fourth and fifth boards. Vidit Gujrathi came up with a slightly below-par show on the third board.
“It was a decent performance overall. We lost three individual games in the whole tournament but in two of them we lost the matches because there were not many wins to compensate those few losses. The players learnt a lot playing alongside Anand,” was how India coach R B Ramesh summed up team’s performance.
India GM Sundararajan Kidambi echoed the same: “Definitely a decent performance. Perhaps the expectations created before the event and with the presence of Anand, the end result looked a trifle disappointing.”Baskaran Adhiban, who played in the fourth board for the team, had this to say: “It would have been nice to win the gold or at least a medal. The loss in the ninth round against Armenia effectively ended our chances. We will try to come back stronger.”
Thanks to a better-tie-break, China edged USA and Russia to bag their second gold in the last three Olympiads. “China won it in 2014 and again in 2018. Chinese players are growing stronger with each passing year and have tremendous team spirit,” reflected R B Ramesh on China’s triumph in Batumi. Poland was the revelation of the tournament, defeating three former champions: USA, Russia and Ukraine. The team narrowly missed out on a medal, taking the fourth spot.
Final placings (top 10): 1-3: China, USA, Russia (18), 4-5: Poland, England (17), 6-10: India, Vietnam, Armenia, France, Ukraine (16).Scores of Indian players: V Anand 5.5/9, P Harikrishna 7/10, Vidit Gujrathi 5/9, B Adhiban 5.5/8, K Sasikiran 6/8.