NEW DELHI: The Top Division of the Online Olympiad finished after three days of intense top-level chess. A total of 1717 players, are playing from 150 countries all over the world, with 888 titled players, including 209 Grand Masters and 244 International Masters.
The quarterfinals will run from Monday (September 13) to Wednesday, September 15th (final). Each duel will consist of two matches, and in the event of a tie (each team wins one of the two matches, or both matches are drawn) it shall be broken with one 3/2 blitz match, followed by Armageddon if needed.
The pairings are as follows:
Duel 1: Kazakhstan vs the USA
Duel 2: Ukraine vs India
Duel 3: Russia vs Hungary
Duel 4: China vs Poland
India defeated Hungary by 4-2 in the first round and consolidated their lead. A 5-1 win over Moldova, followed by an exciting last-round draw against Slovenia (already as group winners), gave the Indian team a 16/18 score and first place.
Hungary joined them in second place with 15/18, three points ahead of Azerbaijan. Although they conceded the top position to India in the first round of the day, they continued to play strong and defeated Sweden and Moldova.
The Indian squad had launched its campaign on Wednesday. The team boasts of Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, and Adhiban B in the Open category, Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and D Harika and Woman Grandmasters Tania Sachdev and R Vaishali in the Women's category, Grandmasters Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa in the Juniors Open and Woman Grandmaster Vaishali R and Woman Fide Master Savitha Shri in the Junior Girls.