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Grandmaster and World Championship challenger D Gukesh put it across Fabiano Caruana of the United States to raise visions of a maiden gold medal for the Indian men in the 45th Chess Olympiad here.
Set to play the next World championship match in Singapore in November, Gukesh played another tough game showcasing his steely nerves against the top seeded teams and also beating higher ranked Caruana.
It was a Catalan opening wherein Gukesh got the complications running in his favour in the later stages of the middle game after grabbing a pawn.
Under pressure, Caruana crumbled like a cookie and soon after lost a second pawn to let Gukesh enter a winning endgame.
Earlier, R Praggananandhaa went down fighting against Wesley So to give the American team an early lead but the Indian men were in no danger anytime as Arjun Erigaise was always in command against Lenier Dominguez Perez.
Arjun won after over five hours of play, while Vidit Gujrathi played a rock-solid game against Levon Aronian.
While the technicalities remained and the pairings for the next round was still awaited, it seems almost sure that the team India has won the Olympiad gold for the first time ever and that too with one round to spare.
Indian eves beat China. Divya Deshmukh yet again proved to be the team’s star performer as she defeated Ni Shiqun on board three, while the other three games ended in draws as the Indian eves thwarted China’s challenge to post a 2.5-1.5 victory.
R Vaishali was the other Indian who deserved a lot of praise for her spirited defense in a difficult position against Guo Qi and in the end capitalized on a tactical shot to force the draw.
On the top board, D Harika held on to her own to hold Zhu Jiner, while Vantika Agarwal matched Lu Miaoyi move for move to get an easy draw just when the middle game arrived.
With Georgia likely to post a victory against overnight leader Kazakhstan, it seemed that the Indian eves were likely to regain the top position and become the firm favourites for the gold medal again.
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