45th FIDE Chess Olympiad Round 2 2024 Highlights: The Indian team defeated Iceland 4-0 with Gukesh taking down grandmaster Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (rated 2531), Arjun Erigaisi beating GM Hannes Stefansson (rated 2471), Vidit Gujrathi defeating international master Hilmir Freyr Heimisson (2391) and Pentala Harikrishna (2686) taking down GM Helgi Ass Gretarsson (2450).
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s team also won their two game points against the Czech Republic with Harika Dronavalli (facing WGM Julia Movsesian), Divya Deshmukh (playing versus WIM Natalie Kanakova) and Vantika Agrawal (facing WGM Teresa Rodshtein) winning their games while Tania Sachdev was held to a draw by Martina Korenova.
The Indian team chose to rest Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali in round 2 while welcoming back their top boards Gukesh and Harika Dronavalli.
Top results from Round 2 of 45th Chess Olympiad
China lost its first individual points but managed to defeat Chile in the second round. World Champion Ding Liren drew on the first board against Cristobal Henriquez Villagra.
Uzbekistan also conceded half a point to Egypt when Hamed Wafa (2368) managed to draw against Javokhir Sindarov (2677). The Netherlands narrowly won against Belgium with two draws on the lower boards, but were never at risk of losing the match, winning 2.5-1.5.
The top seeded Team USA have won both their matches, but the team is yet to hit top form. Playing for the first time at the Budapest Olympiad, Fabiano Caruana won his game against Singapore in Round 2. But Caruana did not seem entirely convinced by the nature of their win. “At the moment, Levon (Aronian) is struggling. His game today is very dangerous for him, and we can’t really afford to lose a game. We’re playing a solid team, and they are probably going to make two draws with the white pieces.”
Results of the top matches from Round 2 of 45th Chess Olympiad
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Open:
USA 4-0 Singapore
Iceland 0-4 India
China 3.5-0.5 Chile
Egypt 0.5-3.5 Uzbekistan
Netherlands 2.5-1.5 Belgium
Women:
India 3.5-0.5 Czech Republic
Montenegro 1-3 Georgia
Poland 4-0 Brazil
Colombia 0-4 China
Ukraine 2.5-0.5 Lithuania
