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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
22 September 2024
For our final report about how the Irish teams fared, please see our Irish olympiad page.
Today the FIDE Olympiad in Budapest ended with the result that has been likely for a few days: India won both the Open and Women's tournaments. Not all the results were predictable, though.
To summarise, before going into the details of what happened, we can tell you that in the Open section India won with a record score of 21 match points (out of a possible 22) which is unlikely ever to be equalled or bettered. Only the 2022 champions, Uzbekistan, managed a drawn match against them.
In the last round they had a heavy win, 3.5-0.5 against Slovenia. That team finished unluckily in ninth place because of having this tough pairing after several previous good results. In the Olympiad, a last round result is always crucial.
There was a group of five teams that finished on 17MP. USA beat China to take the silver medals and Uzbekistan took the bronze after beating France. China, Serbia (who beat Ukraine) and Armenia (who beat Iran) missed out on the podium but whereas the Chinese will have been disappointed the Serbs probably reckon they did well.
India's domination of the Women's Olympiad was less complete because in round 8 they had lost to Poland, when both their top board players were defeated, but they finished strongly with 19MP and had beaten the runners-up earlier in the event.
The tremendous young Kazakhstan team (none of them older than 20) drew their match with the USA to finish on 18MP and take unexpected but well-earned silver medals home.
The Americans had to settle for bronze but as they were ranked 7 initially they are probably quite pleased. They had the best tiebreak of the four teams on 17MP, the others being Spain, Armenia and Georgia. The Spanish came through on a late run and did not meet any of the top three.
The following paragraph is retained from yesterday's report.
Before round ten began, veteran Hungarian grandmaster Lajos Portisch made the ceremonial first move in the Open section and was then presented with an honorary plaque by FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich. A large number of those present showed their appreciation for this great player and fine gentleman. He is also known for his singing. Earlier Portisch had held a musical event that you can read about on the FIDE website.
The top match in round 11 of the Open was always likely to see a heavy Indian victory and so it proved. Vidit was held to a draw on board 4 but the juggernaut crushed all opposition on boards 1-3. Praggnanandhaa, after two difficult games with Black (one of which was India's only loss of the whole event), had White today and was able to finish with a win.
The combination of world title challenger Gukesh on top board and Arjun Erigaisi on 3 was simply awesome throughout the tournament and onlyb the Uzbeks had an answer. Gukesh, who didn't play the first round, finished with 9/10 for a 3056 performance.
On board 3 Arjun Erigaisi scored 10/11 for a 2968 result. His live rating is now almost 2800, up 60 points since January as the interview with him in the current New In Chess shows. Today he played a supposedly inferior line of the Scandinavian Defence that gives White a significant advantage; it didn't matter as he has made a habit of using "inferior" lines to play for a win with Black against slightly weaker grandmasters. So it went again today.
What was more surprising today was the Chinese team's approach to their match with the USA. Ding Liren had White against Caruana, who had lost to Gukesh yesterday. Straight out of the opening moves, Ding repeated three times and the game was drawn in ten moves. This is not how world champions are supposed to play. Ding lost one game in the tournament, won none, and spoiled at least two winning positions.
China paid the price for this. Board 4 was also drawn quite quickly although 30 moves were made but you cannot blame Bu Xiangzhi who had Black against Aronian. Perhaps they were counting on Yu Yanggyi, who had a good tournament, but he was unable to break down the resistance of Dominguez on board 3. Too much of the strain of Ding's failures has fallen on the shoulders of Wei Yi. Fine player though he is, he fell to Wesley So who finished the tournament strongly.
So the Americans, who had been seeded 1, just managed second in the end. They had lost to Ukraine (when So lost), then only drew with Romania and had lost yesterday to India when Caruana tried to win a drawn position against Gukesh. Wesley So pulled them through in the end by beating Pragg and then Wei Yi.
Of course they might have brought Nakamura or Niemann instead of Robson, but it seems Hikaru wasn't interested and Niemann's rating was lower before his European tour, and anyway India would probably have still won. You can also speculate how France (or Iran, for that matter) might have fared with Firouzja but presumably there is a reason why he chose not to play.
Uzbekistan have lost their crown but third was not bad at all and they will be hosts next time. Abdusatturov, who is some kind of genius despite forgetting (?) his preparation against Ding, was unbeaten and had the second best result on top board with 9/11. Vokhidov on board 4 was also unbeaten.
Magnus Carlsen had the third best rating performance on top board, despite losing to Fedoseev of Slovenia. Norway miscalculated, though, by not playing Magnus in round 2 when they only drew their match and could not make up the ground thus lost by conceding a match point unnecessarily early. Then they lost to Iran in round 6 when Magnus was unable to beat the resourceful Maghsoodloo.
Ukraine started well but faded. Their board 4, Korobov, predicted this to an interviewer. He said they are a team of old men and would get tired after a few rounds.
The hosts, Hungary, always played in match 2 in both tournaments, probably to facilitate television coverage. They are probably pleased with how things went - at least Judit Polgar was in an interview she gave on the official website today. They were happy to have Richard Rapport back; he had briefly transferred to Serbia, the country of his wife. Their men's team finished 11th with 16MP and were usually playing in an important match. The Hungarian women finished 14th.
England finished 20th in the Open and 27th in the Women's. The players they had in the glory years of the 1980s are now winning medals in the Seniors. Some people at home are probably saying it was a mistake not to bring their new 16-year-old grandmaster Shreyas Royal because the Olympiad is a young player's paradise, but it's unlikely they will leave him at home in 2026.
In the end India won the women's tournament without their strongest player, Humpy Koneru, but they would not have done so without the brilliant result of 18-year-old Girls World Champion Divya on board 3 (even three times on board 2) who scored 9.5/11 for a 2608 result. Their board 4 Vantika was also unbeaten (7.5/9). Harika on top board lost three games and when Vaishali also lost against Poland they were no longer leading.
What happened next was an even bigger surprise. Poland, who had been third seeds, lost in the very next round to Kazakhstan who, although they did not win gold, undoubtedly were the stars of this tournament. They were 10th seeds initially but their young team has performed magnificently, losing only to India in an early round.
Their players are all 20 years old or younger, so they could be a force for some time to come. They come under huge pressure in their last two matches but drew them. Yesterday they drew all four games against the very experienced second seeds of Georgia. Today, against the USA, their second board lost to Carissa Yip but their top board won her game though it looked perilous in the early stages.
The Kazakh boards 3 and 4 performed a hundred points above their rating in this event. Especially yesterday when 17-year-old Alua Nurman on board 4 held her nerve in a dangerous defensive situation to hold what was almost the last game of the day to finish. She had lost two games earlier but grew into the tournament.
The American bronze medal was principally achieved by Carissa Yip on board two (10/11) and Alice Lee on board 4 (8/10) who were both unbeaten. Poland lost to Georgia in the last round. The Georgians, who had been second seeds, finished sixth on tiebreak with the same MP as the USA.
As for China, who had left the world's top four rated women (including Hou Yifan) at home, they finished seventh with one match point less. They won a lot of their matches by a wide margin and scored two more game points than any other team, but they were beaten by Armenia and Poland in the middle of the tournament and then by India when they had almost caught up. They never got to meet the teams that finished second and third. Their only unbeaten player was IM Song Yuxin on board 2, perhaps because she was rested against India.
Here are the official links to the Team lists, results and pairings. The games can be downloaded or you can get them from The Week In Chess. (The early rounds were already published and the rest should be released on Tuesday.)
Russia are still not allowed to play in FIDE team events. That decision was in danger of being overturned at a vote during the FIDE Congress, as England's Malcolm Pein warned in an interview with the BBC last week. We don't yet know what happened.
In the Women's tournament, 14 of the 183 teams that entered never arrived and one (Ethiopia) withdrew mid-way through the event. Presumably visa issues were to blame. In the Open section, 197 teams entered, but 9 of them never arrived, several missed some of the early rounds and Liberia withdrew mid-way.