2024 Budapest Olympiad Round 9: India Leads Open, Kazakhstan 1st in Women's

Tournament Information

Information about the schedule, Lichess broadcast, and Lichess stream coverage can all be found in our preview article.

Lichess will be covering the Chess Olympiad with live camera feeds and rotating commentators: GM Illia Nyzhnyk, IM Eric Rosen, and FM Gauri Shankar! Make sure to tune in tomorrow September 21 at 13:00 UTC for Round 10 with our host FM Gauri Shankar.

Schedule

Leaderboard (Open)

Overview (Open)

Uzbekistan has stopped the soaring, flawless Indian team, which nevertheless remains two match points ahead of three teams in shared second: the United States, Uzbekistan, and China. The United States narrowly defeated Hungary in a very close match, while China won against Iran without too many issues. Slovenia delivered a crushing blow to Norway, a match which saw world #1 GM Magnus Carlsen lose against GM Vladimir Fedoseev.

You can find more results here.

The Top Teams

Round 9's draw on the top board made a lot of sense. GM Javokhir Sindarov was better at one point against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and the same could be said for GM Arjun Erigaisi against GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov. Meanwhile, GM Gukesh Dommaraju vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and GM Jakhongir Vakhidov vs. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi saw very calm, correct draws.

Sindarov had a strong attack brewing, but with one highly tempting yet ultimately inaccurate move in 25. Nf6, he blew his advantage away and had to settle for a draw as Black's defensive structure on the kingside could not be breached:

Arjun's game followed a similar path in that he increased White's opening advantage further, and with the powerful and precise 18. g4 he looked to have the far better position against Vokhidov. Just like Sindarov, Arjun blundered away his advantage with one move, 24. Qg6, but deep into the middlegame, Arjun had a second chance with 38. Bxf7!! Alas, Arjun played 38. Re3 instead and the game soon headed to a draw after precise play in the endgame from both sides:

The United States vs. Hungary match was nerve-racking. GM Illia Nyzhnyk, who was commentating on round 9 for Lichess, was jittery about the constant back-and-forth. Indeed, the United States seemed to have tight control over the match as after a quick draw between GM Benjamin Gledura and GM Levon Aronian, GM Leinier Dominguez Perez used his bishop pair in the endgame to crushing effect:

GM Leinier Dominguez Perez against GM Sanan Sjugirov
Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Seeing as how match victory was virtually secured as GM Fabiano Caruana had a stable advantage against GM Richard Rapport, GM Wesley So, who was pressing against GM Peter Leko, decided to take a draw. Suddenly, though, matters started getting out of hand for Caruana and he had to defend precisely. Even with two extra pawns in the endgame, Caruana was on the back foot, but he kept his cool and defended with engine-like precision:

The China vs. Iran match was quieter in comparison as boards 3 and 4 saw little deviation from "perfect" chess. On board 1, GM Ding Liren looked to be winning against GM Parham Maghsoodloo, but, in time pressure, he failed to find a somewhat difficult continuation in a sea of tempting options (GM Illia Nyzhnyk also failed to spot it, so it must have been a particularly hard move!):

With a very creative rook lift, it was GM Wei Yi who sealed the deal for China:

Of course, whenever a dominant figure such as GM Magnus Carlsen loses a game, it is noteworthy. GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who already has an impressive résumé, achieved an endgame win against the endgame wizard himself:

The Biggest Upsets (Games)

Rozak El of Cambodia profited from a fork blunder from CM Don Dacres of Bermuda:

Honorable mentions go out to Aurelien Tegawende Lefebvre of Burkina Faso, who, as an unrated player, defeated 2001-rated FM Enemchukwu Chinedu Benjamin of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:

and unrated Renniel Gilbert of Grenada, who won against 1949-rated CM Elmer Prudente of Guam:

Upsets (Teams)

Moldova (vs. Israel), Kyrgyzstan (vs. Belgium), Chinese Taipei (vs. Albania), Puerto Rico (vs. Thailand), Honduras (vs. Morocco), and Kuwait (vs. Sao Tome and Principe) scored upset wins, while Turkmenistan (vs. Canada), Costa Rica (vs. Switzerland), Cape Verde (vs. Zambia), Libya (vs. Uganda), Saudi Arabia (vs. Ethiopia), Maldives (vs. Haiti), and Lesotho (vs. Namibia) scored upset draws.

Puerto Rico's win against Thailand and Costa Rica's draw against Switzerland were significant rating upsets.

IM Emmanuel Jimenez Garcia of Costa Rica played a complicated game against GM Nico Georgiadis of Switzerland, where the latter sacrificed a rook for a slew of pawns which Jimenez Garcia was able to pick up with precise play:

Brilliant Games

"Who needs a queen?" asked FM Sergio Miguel of Angola as he defeated GM Temur Kuybokarov of Australia:

Round 10 Pairings

The top two seeds, India and the United States, will finally meet in round 10 of the Olympiad in a match that could decide gold. If India wins, it all but secures 1st, while a win for the United States would mean that both teams would tie for 1st. SuperGM matchups will be rarer in this round than in others, but many interesting individual matchups on the top boards are possible — GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Ding Liren being one such game.

Leaderboard (Women's)

Overview (Women's)

In a match that could have gone either way, Kazakhstan defeated Poland, while India's draw with the United States has put it one match point behind Kazakhstan. Hungary bounced back with a narrow win against Canada, while Ukraine drew Armenia in another close match. China and Spain won against Turkiye and the Netherlands, respectively, to keep their hopes for a podium finish alive.

You can find more results here.

The Top Teams

As the Kazakhstan vs. Poland match developed, Kazakhstan was looking good to secure match victory as boards 2, 3, and 4 had decently large advantages. The top board of the match saw a rather staid draw, but board 2 was soon also heading for a draw as IM Meruert Kamalidenova mistimed a queen trade against GM Monika Socko and had to settle for a draw after her advantage dissipated. On board 3, WIM Xeniya Balabayeva's position necessitated a strong exchange sacrifice on move 28, 28. Rxe4!!, to get powerful, rolling pawns in the center of the board and to consolidate her advantage. Balabayeva did not find this move, though, and the game was quickly drawn:

17-year-old WIM Alua Nurman, who has been having a great tournament so far, was there to save the day for Kazakhstan. She was actually in trouble at various points of the game, but as her dormant knight on g8 gradually became active, WIM Alicja Sliwicka's position collapsed:

India had its chances against the United States, but stubborn defense by IM Alice Lee against IM Tania Sachdev meant that India could not win its match. On board 1, IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova played a spectacular positional game, first hammering GM Vaishali Rameshbabu's isolated d-pawn, forcing a transformation to a hanging pawns structure, and finishing it all off with a stunning and sudden attack:

IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova smiling after her crucial victory
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

IM Divya Deshmukh vs. IM Carissa Yip was as solid as solid can be, but board 3 saw an unexpected attack by IM Vantika Agrawal as she pushed 21...f5!, allowing her queen to swing over to the kingside with 22...Qg6!, to devastating effect. The silicon paragon of chess knowledge does note that GM Irina Krush had a save with 31. Kh1, but such a move requires deep calculation, which Krush did not have the luxury of doing what with her heavy time pressure:

It seemed as though India was going to get a quick victory on board 4, but IM Tania Sachdev, even though objectively "winning", could not find the right continuation with 21. e6!!. In such positions, and especially because Bxg6 is a very typical idea, it would take incredible vision to be able to play such a move. Unfortunately, chess is unforgiving, and after Tania missed said move, it was difficult to foresee how White, a piece down, could still play for more. Tania took the correct decision and settled for a draw to secure the draw for team India:

The Biggest Upsets (Games)

In round 9, the battle for biggest upset was fiercely contested. Apart from WCM Azumi Sakai's win (see next section), South Korea's WFM Sunwoo Park's win against WIM Lindri Juni Widjayanti was the biggest upset:

An honorable mention goes to 80-year-old WIM Rani Hamid of Bangladesh, who defeated WIM Maria Belen Sarquis of Argentina.

Upsets (Teams)

Finland (vs. Slovenia), Malaysia (vs. Czech Republic), Turkmenistan (vs. Montenegro), Japan (vs. Scotland), South Korea (vs. Indonesia), and Lebanon (vs. Honduras) scored upset wins, while Uzbekistan (vs. Serbia), Iran (vs. Italy), Paraguay (vs. Croatia), Chile (vs. Hungary C), Hong Kong, China (vs. Nicaragua), Haiti (vs. Botswana), and Eritrea (vs. Guernsey) scored upset draws.

Turkmenistan's win against Montenegro and Japan's win against Scotland, as well as Paraguay's draw with Croatia and Eritrea's draw with Guernsey were significant rating upsets.

WCM Azumi Sakai's game against GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant included a very intriguing pawn structure and Arakhamia-Grant getting punished for refusing to repeat moves against her much lower rated opponent:

Brilliant Games

WFM Haritomeni Markantonaki of Greece sacrificed it all to launch a vicious, textbook attack against Monaco's WIM Martine Dubois' castled king:

Round 10 Pairings

A surging China will face 2nd place India, but it is the match on board 1, Georgia vs. Kazakhstan, which is of prime importance for the tournament standings as a victory for Kazakhstan puts it in a very comfortable position going into the 11th and final round of the 2024 Budapest Olympiad. There are also nine teams on 14/18, all of them having small chances for gold and much bigger chances to finish on the podium, so very tense matches await round 10 of the Women's section.

Olympiad Tactics

The Turkish chess trainer and FM Nazmi Can Doğan alias @NaSil is taking tactical snippets from the Olympiad:

Olympiad Miscellany

GM Levon Aronian's shirt says what we all know.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

The well-known Cramling family
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com