Azerbaijan, India, Russia, U.S. Pool Leaders At Online Olympiad
The FIDE Online Olympiad's Top Division got underway on Friday with the top favorites entering the fray. Azerbaijan, India, Russia, and the U.S. lead their respective pools after the first day. The top three teams from each pool will qualify for the playoff.
The games of the FIDE Online Olympiad can be found here as part of our live events platform. On playing days, expert commentary is provided on Chess.com/TV starting from 1 a.m. Pacific / 10:00 a.m. Central Europe.
The absolute best countries in chess are now part of the competition, which means we're also seeing top grandmasters playing, such as GMs Ding Liren, Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian, Daniil Dubov, and Wesley So, to name a few.
The very best female players are present as well, such as GMs Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Humpy Koneru, Nana Dzagnidze, Kateryna Lagno, and Alexandra Kosteniuk. At the same time, the tournament might be bringing new talent into the spotlight as at least one male and one female junior player are on each team.
Below we cover the Top Division's first day, on which three rounds were played in each pool. Once again, the goal for the teams is to finish among the top three in their pool to qualify for the all-decisive playoff phase on August 27-30.
- Pool A: India, China, Germany still perfect
- Pool B: Azerbaijan leads ahead of Ukraine
- Pool C: Russia reigns supreme
- Pool D: U.S. dominates
Pool A: India, China, Germany still perfect
Pool A has three clear favorites to finish among those top three spots, and these countries won all of their matches on day one. India did the best, with 15.5 match points out of a possible 18, followed by China (widely considered as the favorite for final victory,) and Germany.
India was especially impressive as the team scored 14 wins and conceded just one loss and three draws. GM Nihal Sarin (@nihalsarin on our site) scored 2/2 but had quite the adventure in round two against Vietnam.
Top Division, Pool A | Round 3 Standings
| Rank | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. |
| 1 | India | 4 | 5½ | 6 | 6 | 15½ | ||||||||
| 2 | China | 4½ | 4 | 5 | 6 | 13½ | ||||||||
| 3 | Germany | 3½ | 3½ | 4½ | 6 | 11½ | ||||||||
| 4 | Vietnam | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10 | ||||||||
| 5 | Indonesia | 1½ | 2½ | 6 | 2 | 10 | ||||||||
| 6 | Iran | 2 | 2½ | 3½ | 2 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | Uzbekistan | ½ | 1 | 5½ | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| 8 | Georgia | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 1 | 7½ | ||||||||
| 9 | Mongolia | 1½ | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6½ | ||||||||
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ |
Note that by the time this report came out, Pool A had just finished its second day. The most recent results and standings can be found here.
Pool B: Azerbaijan leads ahead of Ukraine
Seeing Azerbaijan and Ukraine at the top in Pool B is not a big surprise. However, Slovakia and Hungary tied for third? Well, that's because France has entered the tournament with a very weak team and the Netherlands simply disappointed on the first day. While Giri did much better than last week (2.5/3), the rest of the team let him down.
Radjabov scored two excellent wins for Azerbaijan in the first two rounds. His round-two game, from a match the team won 5-1 against Hungary, is interesting:
Top Division, Pool B | Round 3 Standings
| Rank | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. |
| 1 | Azerbaijan | 5 | 3½ | 5½ | 6 | 14 | ||||||||
| 2 | Ukraine | 3 | 5½ | 5 | 5 | 13½ | ||||||||
| 3 | Slovakia | 2 | 3½ | 4½ | 4 | 10 | ||||||||
| 4 | Hungary | 1 | 3½ | 4 | 4 | 8½ | ||||||||
| 5 | Kazakhstan | 4 | 2½ | 3 | 3 | 9½ | ||||||||
| 6 | Spain | 3 | 2½ | 3½ | 3 | 9 | ||||||||
| 7 | France | ½ | 2½ | 6 | 2 | 9 | ||||||||
| 8 | Norway | 1 | 1½ | 4 | 2 | 6½ | ||||||||
| 9 | Netherlands | 2½ | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7½ | ||||||||
| 10 | South Africa | ½ | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2½ |
Pool C: Russia reigns supreme
There's little doubt that Russia will be qualifying for the playoffs, but the fight for second and third place is gonna be a close one. No fewer than five teams are currently tied for second place!
One of these is Armenia, whose top GM Aronian scored 2.5/3. His first-round game with Romania's GM Constantin Lupulescu was a rollercoaster:
Top Division, Pool C | Round 3 Standings
| Rank | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. |
| 1 | Russia | 3½ | 4½ | 5½ | 6 | 13½ | ||||||||
| 2 | Croatia | 2½ | 5 | 6 | 4 | 13½ | ||||||||
| 3 | Egypt | 2 | 5 | 4½ | 4 | 11½ | ||||||||
| 4 | Armenia | 2½ | 4 | 4½ | 4 | 11 | ||||||||
| 5 | England | 1 | 3½ | 4½ | 4 | 9 | ||||||||
| 6 | Bulgaria | 1½ | 3½ | 4 | 4 | 9 | ||||||||
| 7 | Romania | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||
| 8 | Morocco | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| 9 | Turkey | ½ | 1½ | 2½ | 0 | 4½ | ||||||||
| 10 | Algeria | ½ | 1½ | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Pool D: U.S. dominates
Pool D has a similar situation, with team U.S. leading firmly on six match points but Peru, Poland, and Italy currently sharing second place.
U.S.'s GM Jeffery Xiong won all three games on the first day. In the match against Italy, there was a brief moment when it seemed that Black could play for a "crazy rook," but it didn't work:
Top Division, Pool D | Round 3 Standings
| Rank | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. |
| 1 | U.S. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 14 | ||||||||
| 2 | Peru | 2½ | 4 | 6 | 4 | 12½ | ||||||||
| 3 | Poland | 3½ | 2½ | 5 | 4 | 11 | ||||||||
| 4 | Italy | 1 | 4½ | 5 | 4 | 10½ | ||||||||
| 5 | Greece | 1 | 3½ | 3 | 3 | 7½ | ||||||||
| 6 | Argentina | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| 8 | Cuba | 0 | 1½ | 5 | 2 | 6½ | ||||||||
| 9 | Brazil | 1 | 1 | 4½ | 2 | 6½ | ||||||||
| 10 | Paraguay | 2 | 3 | 1½ | 1 | 6½ |
The FIDE Online Olympiad is a major online chess event for national teams that runs July 25-August 30 on the Chess.com server. More than 1,500 participants and 163 teams from all over the world are playing.
Each team consists of six players, including at least two women, at least one player who is 20 or younger, and at least one female player who is 20 or younger. The time control for all matches is 15 minutes for the game and a five-second increment per move, starting from move one.
Related articles:
- FIDE Online Chess Olympiad (info article)
- FIDE Online Olympiad Launches July 25 On Chess.com
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Base Division's Results
- Hong Kong, Angola Perfect, Eid Brilliant In Olympiad Division 4
- GM Zaibi Plays Brilliant Checkmate In Olympiad Division 3
- Shirov On Fire As Online Olympiad Gets Set For Top Division
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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