Budapest R2 (women): Singapore upset Latvia

Favourites still ahead

As anticipated, most of the higher-seeded teams continued their march forward in the second round of the Women's Chess Olympiad. Powerhouses such as India, Georgia, Poland and China secured convincing victories against their lower-ranked opponents. Featuring GMs or IMs on their top boards, their talent and preparation were on full display.

However, a few individual boards saw unexpected results. For example, Montenegro's Nikolina Koljevic defeated the much higher-rated Salome Melia from Georgia, or Lithuania's Olena Martynkova toppled the Ukrainian Yuliia Osmak. In both cases, the underdog prevailed with the black pieces.

In terms of team results, the biggest upset of the round took place on board 36, where Singapore (the 77^th seeds) stunned Latvia (36^th) with a 2½-1½ victory. Wins by Kay Yan Eden Pang and Kun Fang, both with the black pieces, gave their team overall victory. The fact that Singapore will host the World Championship match at the end of the year might have served as motivation for the national teams to work extra hard to show their best at the Olympiad.

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These upsets, while not enough to greatly alter the standings, demonstrated the competitive spirit and unpredictability of the Olympiad. It's a reminder to the higher-seeded teams that every board matters and that a single upset can have significant consequences.

Nikolina Koljevic from Montenegro playing black against Salome Melia from Georgia on board | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

As the tournament moves into Friday's third round, several high-profile matchups promise more thrilling games. The top teams are now beginning to face more evenly matched opponents, and as the stakes rise, so will the level of play.

In the top match of round 3, the rating favourites from India will face Switzerland, led by former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Another exciting match will feature Georgia taking on Romania, which has the experienced Irina Bulmaga on the top board. Much like Romania, the Greek team will include a player who has recently faced the best in the world on the top board - Stavroula Tsolakidou - as they will look to upset the strong Polish squad.

With each round, the margin for error narrows, and every game becomes crucial as teams aim for glory in Budapest.

India's Divya Deshmukh might play on board 2 or board 3 in Friday's key match against Switzerland | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Osmak 0 - 1 Martynkova

Osmak, Yuliia2471

0–1

Martynkova, Olena2176

45th FIDE Womens Olympiad 2024 Budapest12.09.2024[CC]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.e4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 e5 11.Be3 11.Rb1 h6 12.Re1 Re8 13.Bd3 b5 was seen in Dardha v. Cruz from 2022 (1-0). 11...Re8 12.Qc2 Qc7 This is too slow. White could get an edge with a2-a4, gaining a key tempo. 12...exd4 13.cxd4 Qe7 makes much more sense for Black. 13.Rad1 Positionally stronger is 13.a4 exd4 14.cxd4 and Black will struggle trying to find coordination for her army. 13...exd4 14.cxd4 Nb6

Another artificial move by Martynkova. White is now clearly better. 15.d5 Black's ...Qd8-c7 also allows White to play this at once, due to the pin along the c-file. More precise is 15.a4 a5 and now 16.d5 Bg4 17.h3 Bxf3 18.gxf3 with a clear positional edge for White. 15...Bg4 16.d6 Qd7 17.Rd2 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 More vigorous is 18.gxf3 leaving the bishop on e2 to keep an eye on c4, and e.g. Rad8 19.Rfd1 Qe6 20.a4 White continues to up the pressure. 18...Qe6 19.Rb1 Understandable, though not energetic enough. White has lost the initiative, but still has the passer on d6 (which might become a weakness?). Red8 20.Bc5 Be5 21.a4 Nc4 22.Bg4 Bxh2+

Martynkova spent 5 of the 18 minutes she had left before playing this move, which is strong! 23.Kxh2 Qe5+ The idea! Giving check and attacking the bishop on c5. Martynkova correctly calculated that the ensuing forcing lines are not losing for her (it does look dangerous though, a factor that might prevent many players from entering this variation) 24.g3 Nxd2 25.Rb4 The losing mistake by the rating favourite. Correct is 25.Re1 when Black must play Nb3 26.Ba3 Qg5 attacking another minor piece, and now after 27.Qxb3 Qxg4 28.Qc3 Qe6 29.Bb2 f6 White has some compensation for the material thanks to her dark-squared battery. 25...b6 26.Bd4 26.Be3 fails to Nf1+ 26...Qxd6 27.Qxd2 c5

This is why Rb1-b4 was such a bad move. 28.e5 Qd5 29.e6 cxb4 30.exf7+ Qxf7 Black emerged from the complications with two extra exchanges and two extra pawns. 31.Qe1 Re8 32.Qxb4 Re4 33.f3 Re2+ 34.Kh1 With no more tricks available in the position, Osmak resigned. 0–1

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Ukraine barely managed to beat Lithuania in round 2 | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Standings after round 2 - Women

...180 teams

Round 3 pairings - Women

...84 boards

• Full pairings and standings on Chess-Results: Open | Women
• All games on Live.ChessBase.com: Open | Women

All games - Round 2 (Women)

Links

• Official website
• Chess Olympiad Open Section: Who will reign supreme in Budapest?
• Women's Olympiad preview: Rising stars and veterans
• Budapest gets ready for the 2024 Chess Olympiad
• Previous ChessBase reports: Chennai 2022 | Batumi 2018 | Baku 2016
• Pairings and standings on Chess-Results: Open | Women