The second day of the 44th Chess Olympiad is over, and there have been further upheavals in the rankings. What all happened in Round 2?
Team India lets one slip
The Indian Team took on 48th ranked Moldova today. While three of the four games were won by India, Moldova’s Andrei Macovei held out a draw against India’s Arjun Erigaisi. This battle on board 2 of the match denied India the perfect run. Thus, the team is now stranded at 7.5/8 after 2 rounds. India 2 did another sweep against Estonia, winning 4-0. Finally, India 3 won 2.5-1.5 against Mexico, thus pushing the team down in the rankings. India 2 is ranked 2nd after 1st placed Ukraine in the points table. India 1 is ranked 10th.
US team slumps further
After the rocky start that US got off to yesterday, their journey hit another bump in round 2. The team won 2.5-1.5 against 47th placed Paraguay. Moreover, only Leinier Perez won his game out of the US team. All the other players drew their respective games. This severe blow at the hands of Paraguay has pushed US to the 37th rank. The top-seeded team is in real trouble now, after just 2 rounds.
Brazil continues its steady progress
The Brazilian Team under the guidance of Chess Gaja founder GrandMaster Priyadharshan won 3.5-0.5 against the Dominican Republic. GM Andre Diamant drew his game, thus denying Brazil their perfect run. However, the Brazilian team is still placed 20th on the points table. That is far ahead of several Chess giants, including but not limited to the US. The Brazilian Team has a gigantic challenge as they face Spain tomorrow.
Women’s category
France, Azerbaijan, and Spain lead the women’s category with a few other teams with 8 wins in the 2 rounds thus far. India 1 won 3.5-0.5 against Argentina, with Humpy Koneru drawing against Marisa Zuriel. India 2 got the same result against Latvia. The third Indian team won 3-1 against Singapore.
The second day of the 44th Chess Olympiad was highly eventful, with lots of changes in the points table. Stay tuned on Chess Gaja for updates on Day 3.
