India, Russia To Play Sunday's Online Olympiad Final
India and Russia qualified for Sunday's big final of the FIDE Online Olympiad. While India needed an armageddon game to beat Poland, Russia beat the United States with a 3.5-2.5 win followed by a 3-3 tie.
The games of the FIDE Online Olympiad can be found here as part of our live events platform. The playoffs are played August 27-30 with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV.
India-Russia
Round 1, 11:00 UTC = 4 a.m. Pacific / 13:00 Central Europe / 14:00 Moscow / 16:30 India
Round 2, 12:00 UTC = 5 a.m. Pacific / 14:00 Central Europe/ 15:00 Moscow / 17:30 India
India*-Poland: 1-1 (6.5-6.5)
| Bo. | 1 | India | Rtg | 2 : 4 | 2 | Poland | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 | 0 - 1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 |
| 1.2 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 | 0 - 1 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2662 |
| 1.3 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 | ½ - ½ | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 |
| 1.4 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 | ½ - ½ | IM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 |
| 1.5 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2418 | 1 - 0 | IM | Janik, Igor | 2531 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Divya, Deshmukh | 1775 | 0 - 1 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 |
| Bo. | 2 | Poland | Rtg | 1½:4½ | 1 | India | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 | 0 - 1 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 |
| 1.2 | GM | Gajewski, Grzegorz | 2515 | 0 - 1 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 |
| 1.3 | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 | 0 - 1 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 |
| 1.4 | IM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 | 0 - 1 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 |
| 1.5 | IM | Janik, Igor | 2531 | 1 - 0 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1781 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 | ½ - ½ | WIM | Vantika, Agrawal | 1729 |
The first semifinal of the day was played between India and Poland. The latter started with an excellent 4-2 team victory, led by GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek on top boards who beat GMs Viswanathan Anand and GM Vidit Gujrathi respectively.
While Duda, with the black pieces, slowly squeezed Anand, Wojtaszek first won a pawn and then decided his game in a mating attack:
India struck back in the second match: 4.5-1.5. In an adventurous game on board one, Anand beautifully outplayed Duda in a Nimzo-Indian, but with little time on the clock for both players, the five-time world champion lost his advantage. In the opposite-colored bishop endgame with rooks, he seemed to be going all-in (in this must-win for the team), and his efforts were awarded as Duda blundered in a drawn endgame:
Anand's second, GM Grzegorz Gajewski, played for Poland in round two (instead of Wojtaszek), but he couldn't save the draw against Vidit. Wins for GM Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli then sealed the deal for India.
An armageddon, already the fourth in this playoff phase, was then played, and the random choice fell on the women's board, where Koneru had just beaten GM Monika Socko as Black in the regular game of match two.
Koneru got black again (while Socko played her second armageddon in two days!), needed only a draw, but won again:
Congrats to 🇮🇳 India, the first team to reach the #OnlineOlympiad's final after beating 🇵🇱 Poland in the armageddon game! pic.twitter.com/3JEsysJ90D
— ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) August 29, 2020
Russia-United States 1.5-0.5 (6.5-5.5)
| Bo. | 1 | Russia | Rtg | 3½:2½ | 2 | United States | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2784 | ½ - ½ | GM | So, Wesley | 2741 |
| 1.2 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2770 | ½ - ½ | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 |
| 1.3 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 | 1 - 0 | IM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 |
| 1.4 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2517 | 1 - 0 | WGM | Abrahamyan, Tatev | 2358 |
| 1.5 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2629 | ½ - ½ | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 |
| 1.6 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 | 0 - 1 | IM | Wang, Annie | 2384 |
| Bo. | 2 | United States | Rtg | 3 : 3 | 1 | Russia | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | So, Wesley | 2741 | 1 - 0 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2784 |
| 1.2 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 | 0 - 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 |
| 1.3 | IM | Yip, Carissa | 2421 | 1 - 0 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 |
| 1.4 | IM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 | 0 - 1 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2517 |
| 1.5 | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 | 1 - 0 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2629 |
| 1.6 | IM | Wang, Annie | 2384 | 0 - 1 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 |
Russia's win was based on their 3.5-2.5 victory in the first match, where the two top boards drew their games. While the U.S. won on the U20 boards 1.5-0.5, Russia scored a decisive 2-0 on the top women's boards.
While WGM Tatev Abrahamyan had little chance against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Anna Zatonskih was actually fine out of the opening against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, but too many inaccuracies quickly became fatal:
The second match was absolutely brilliant as White scored 6-0 with nothing but fascinating games. We've picked GM Jeffery Xiong's win over GM Andrey Esipenko on the U20 board as the Game of the Day, which started with a topical line of the Nimzo-Indian and ended with a king running up the board:
With 2-3 on the scoreboard, Kosteniuk secured Russia's place in the final as she managed to beat Zatonskih from an initially drawn position. The American player blundered and had her knight cornered by a bishop:
One other game deserves attention too, as Polina Shuvalova found a lovely way to finish off Annie Wang in an endgame. The American player should have sacrificed an exchange, after which she would have had the better chances:
The final will be played between India and Russia on Sunday starting from 11:00 UTC, which is 4 a.m. Pacific, 13:00 Central Europe, 14:00 Moscow, and 16:30 India.
Semifinals | All games
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
- Azerbaijan, India, Russia, U.S. Pool Leaders At Online Olympiad
- Crunch Time For Online Olympiad's Top Division
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Who Made It To The Playoffs?
- Armenia, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine Enter Friday's Online Olympiad Quarterfinals
- India, Poland, Russia, U.S. In Saturday's Online Olympiad Semifinals
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.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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