Samarkand (Uzbekistan): Reigning World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won their matches as India defeated England 2.5-1.5 in Round 7 of the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Wednesday.
While Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa won their games, India overcame Nihal Sarin’s defeat to Luke McShane to emerge victorious in the match. On the second board, Arjun Erigiasi was held to a draw by veteran Michael Adams.
On the top board, Pragg defeated Nikita Vitiugov with white pieces, while Gukesh scored over Daniel Howard Fernandez with black pieces. As top seeds and defending champions, India recovered from their defeat to Uzbekistan to secure a narrow victory over England.
In a table clash, Uzbekistan extended their lead in the standings with a 3-1 win over China, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov beating former World Champion Ding Liren and Nodirbek Yakubboev getting the better of Yu Yangyi with black pieces.
World Championship Final challenger Javokhir Sindarov was held to a draw by Wei Yi while Mukhiddin Madaminov shared the point with Xu Xiangyu.
Former winner United States of America were held to a 2-2 draw by Armenia, with Robert Hovhannisyan beating Wesley So while Liang Awonder secured the result with a draw against Gabriel Sargissian.
In other encounters, Germany defeated Turkiye 3-1; the Netherlands beat Bulgaria 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan handed Greece a dominant 3.5-0.5 defeat while Uzbekistan 2 played out an all-draw stalemate with France.
In the women’s section, B Savitha Shri maintained her 100 percent record with her seventh successive win in seven rounds as India defeated Germany 3.5-0.5 in the seventh round on Wednesday. Savitha Shri is the only player to win seven games in a row in the Olympiad.
Koneru Humpy defeated Dinara Wagner, Divya Deshmukh defeated Hanna Marie Klek, while Savitha Shri defeated Lara Schulze with black pieces as she won, and India remained in medal contention with two more rounds remaining in the competition.
In other matches, Uzbekistan beat Slovenia 3.5-0.5, China were held 2-2 by Kazakhstan, Georgia beat Poland 2.5-1.5, and Bulgaria handed Ukraine a 3-1 defeat in the seventh round.
(IANS)
