Chess Olympiad: Debutant Savitha Shri on a hot streak as she saves India’s day

Savitha Shri, a 19-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai, has emerged as the standout performer for India’s women’s team at this year’s FIDE Chess Olympiad. Making her debut, Savitha has won all seven of her games in Samarkand, including a victory over Kazakhstan’s Elnaz Kaliakhmet, as the defending champions held Kazakhstan to a 2-2 draw to stay in the race.

This is her debut at the over-the-board Olympiad, having played in the online Olympiad in 2021. Interestingly, she earned a late spot in the team after Olympiad veteran and GM Harika Dronavalli opted not to compete in the tournament.

In the Open category, defending champions India missed an opportunity to move into the top spot after being held to a 2-2 draw by Azerbaijan in the eighth round. The Indian team remained joint second with 13 match points, while table-toppers Uzbekistan (14) were stunned by Germany and now share the lead with the hosts.

R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who returned to the team in place of Nihal Sarin, were all held to draws by their opponents as India settled for a 2-2 draw with Azerbaijan. The highlight for Indian fans was Gukesh’s game against Mahammad Muradli on the third board, where the reigning world champion missed a chance to close out the game.

Playing with the white pieces in a Sicilian Najdorf, Gukesh went for an ambitious queen move, but Muradli found an accurate response and followed up with some crafty queen manoeuvres of his own. In the queenless endgame, Muradli locked down the centre and activated his king, while Gukesh tried to create an attack by gaining space on the queenside. The two players battled on under severe time pressure before agreeing to a draw after 56 moves, with Muradli putting up a stout defence.

In the women’s competition, senior campaigner Koneru Humpy was held to a draw by Bibisara Assaubayeva, as was Divya Deshmukh by Meruert Kamalidenova, with both playing with the black pieces. However, Savitha won her game against Elnaz Kaliakhmet to save India’s day after Vaishali Rameshbabu lost to Nurman Alua, as the defending champions missed an opportunity to move into the lead.

With inputs from IANS