For several years now, defeating India in India is considered the toughest task in men's Test cricket, a claim which is backed by numbers: since the start of 2013, India have a 40-4 win-loss record at home, easily the best; in second place is Australia's 41-7. Over much of this period, India were extremely dominant with both bat and ball: will they continue their dominance at Chepauk against resurgent Bangladesh fresh from a Series win over Pakistan in Pak is the Q but more important is Chess Olympiad.
Round 4 saw massive upsets in the Chess Olympiad with top seeded Team USA and defending champions Uzbekistan losing.In case you are not following, the 45th Chess Olympiad is now on, organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Budapest, Hungary from 10 to 23 September 2024. It is the first Chess Olympiad that takes place in Hungary since Budapest hosted the 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.The first unofficial edition, labelled as the "Chess Olympic Games", was held in Paris in 1924, and coincided with the Summer Olympic Games that took place in the city in the same year. Despite that the event was not officially part of the Olympic Games and the winners were not awarded official Olympic medals, the rules of the Olympic Games applied.
India’s men and women continued to impress at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. They posted identical 3.5-0.5 wins in the fourth round on Saturday. In the open section, Arjun Erigais also made it four out of four, with his victory against Aleksandar Indjic.
The most important happening for India- after the fourth round there are only eight teams left in the Chess Olympiad standings that have eight match points: India, Spain, China, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine (listed according to tiebreaks). India defeated Serbia 3.5-0.5 on Saturday with Gukesh (vs GM Alexandr Predke), Arjun Erigaisi (vs GM Aleksandar Indjic) and Vidit Gujrathi (vs GM Velimir Ivic) all winning their matches while Praggnanandhaa had accepted a draw on board 2 against GM Alexey Sarana.
Gukesh grounded out a clinical win after nearly six hours of chess. His win saw him vault into the 5th spot in the FIDE live ratings (which are updated in real-time as compared to FIDE’s published ratings which are updated at the end of every month).Seven rounds remain in the Olympiad.
Image and news :chessbase.in
Here is a video shared by my classmate friend RR Vasudevan.RRV resided in Triplicane, studied in Hindu High School and later at DG Vaishnava.He worked in Canara Bank.He is a very talented Chess player, a coach, runs his Chess website and is an International Arbiter.Here he is seen greeting Gukesh at Budapest.Vasu is at Olympiad as a journalist, a specialist job.
International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches. The title was established in 1951. Other than possessing thorough knowledge of the game, nuances and laws, the Arbiter should be adept in operating clocks of different types, using different systems, have absolute objectivity and should knowat least one official FIDE language.
Congrats Vasudevan – Triplicane, Hindu Higher Secondary school, DG Vaishnava college and all of us are proud of you.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
15.9.2024