45th FIDE Chess Olympiad Round 1 2024 Live: With Gukesh sitting out in the first round of the 45th Chess Olympiad, Praggnanandhaa took the top board for India’s opening match against Morocco in the Open section and gave India a 1-0 lead, defeating Tissir Mohamed. Within minutes of Pragg winning, Vidit Gujrathi also claimed victory over Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre. Pentala Harikrishna also claimed a win soon after, winning with black pieces against Moayad Anas. Arjun Erigaisi, India’s top-ranked player, was not to be left behind and sealed a dominant 4-0 victory by defeating Elbilia Jacques.
The Indian team is seeded second in the open section behind Team USA.
While Gukesh was named on the top board for the Chess Olympiadhe will not be in action in the first round when India face Morocco.
India’s initial board order was: Gukesh (Board 1), Praggnanandhaa (Board 2), Arjun Erigaisi (Board 3), Vidit Gujrathi (Board 4), and Pentala Harikrishna (Reserve). But since Gukesh, who will take on world champion Ding Liren in the world chess championship later this year, is sitting out the opening round, everyone moves up a board. India’s board order for Round 1 is as follows: Praggnanandhaa (Board 1), Arjun Erigaisi (Board 2), Vidit Gujrathi (Board 3), and Pentala Harikrishna (Board 4).
Because there are 196 teams competing in the open section and 184 in the women’s section, the tournament cannot be conduced in a full round robin format. This means that the Swiss System, with 11 rounds, will be employed. Each team and player will get 11 matches in the Olympiad.
You can follow our live coverage of the Chess Olympiad Round 1 by scrolling down
INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the game between Praggnanandhaa and Tissir Mohamed below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the game between Arjun Erigaisi and Elbilia Jacques below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the game between Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the game between Harikrishna Pentala and Moayad Anas below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
