9/13/2024 – Most of the top-seeded teams grabbed a second consecutive match victory on the second day of action at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. There were, however, three top-20 squads which were held to draws by lower-rated opposition: Norway (with Magnus Carlsen sitting out), the Czech Republic and Israel. They drew against Canada (seeded 50th), Mongolia (63rd) and Ireland (64th). A number of elite GMs, including World Championship contenders Ding Liren and D. Gukesh, started their Olympic campaigns on Thursday. | Pictured: Munkhdalai Amilal (Mongolia) v. Jan Vikouk (Czechia) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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Norway, Czechia and Israel stumble
After two rounds of competition, the majority of the top 20 teams remain perfect, with 17 of them having a full score of 4/4 in the open section of the Chess Olympiad. The top seeds are proving their strength, maintaining their composure through the opening rounds against lower-rated teams. However, three of the top 20 teams - Norway (6th seed), the Czech Republic (19th seed), and Israel (20th seed) - saw their campaigns take unexpected turns, as they were held to draws by nominally weaker opponents on Thursday.
The Norwegian team was without their star player, Magnus Carlsen, on the top board, as they fielded grandmaster Johan-Sebastian Christiansen on board 1 against Canada. A match featuring 4 decisive results - all wins for the player with the white pieces - ended drawn, with upset wins by Canadian GMs Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux and Razvan Preotu.
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The Czech Republic found themselves in a tough battle against Mongolia, a team that entered the match as underdogs but displayed exceptional resilience. The Czech team could not find a way past the Mongolian defence and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. This result, while not catastrophic, complicates the Czechs' path forward as they now have less room for error in future rounds.
Similarly, Israel were held to a 2-2 draw by Ireland in what was one of the more surprising results of the day. Much like in the Norway v. Canada match, all games ended decisively in this confrontation. Wins for Tarun Kanyamarala and Tom O'Gorman allowed the Irish squad to grab a highly valuable match point.
While many teams still boast a perfect match score, only 3 teams can claim a flawless individual performance across all boards: India, Slovenia and Georgia. These teams have won all 8 of their individual games across the first two rounds, demonstrating not only depth but consistency across their entire lineups.
A satisfied Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Canada) right after beating Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (Norway) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
The Georgian team (right, facing Costa Rica) won both their matches by a 4-0 score | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
Elite grandmasters join the fray
Round 2 also marked the debut of several elite grandmasters, including world champion Ding Liren, former World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana and the next challenger for the crown, Dommaraju Gukesh.
Caruana, playing on the top board for the United States, delivered a stunning win with the white pieces against Singapore's Tin Jingyao. Gukesh, one of India's brightest stars, displayed his talent to beat Iceland's Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (who comes from winning the Gáldar Open) with the black pieces. Ding, on his part, was held to a draw by Chile's Cristóbal Henríquez, who later described the experience of facing the world champion as "one of the most beautiful in my chess career".
While the result was a minor setback for Ding, it does little to diminish China's overall chances in the tournament. Ding's teammates, in fact, won all 7 remaining games on the first two days of action in Budapest.
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Ding Liren (right) sharing a laugh with teammate Yu Yangyi | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.d3Bc55.0-0d66.c30-07.h3Not the
most popular variation in the much fashionable Italian Opening. Still, this
line has been explored often recently.a68.a4h69.Re1Re810.b4Ba711.Nbd2Be612.Bxe6Rxe6The players return to a very popular setup out of this
opening. Caruana has played this exact position from the white side three
times this year (2 wins against Firouzja and 1 loss against Dominguez).13.Bb2d514.b5Ne715.exd5Qxd516.c4
Though the players had already
spent a bit of time in the last few moves, this is still a theoretical
position - e.g. Leko beat Abdusattorov from the white side in 2019.16...Qxd317.Nxe5Also playable is17.Bxe5and e.g.:Re818.Bxf6gxf619.Qb3Rd8
with a rich, double-edged position.17...Qf518.Qf3Rd819.Nb3It was
all quite forced in the last 3 moves, but Black now must decide how to proceed.
He must decide, for example, whether to trade queens or not - a tough decision
while facing one of the strongest players of this era.c6Not the most
accurate, though by no means losing.Tin decided not to play19...Qxf320.Nxf3Rd3most likely due to20...Rxe1+21.Rxe1Ng622.Na5is not great
for Black.21.Rxe6fxe622.Bd4Rxb323.Bxa7and engines evaluate the
position as equal, though Black is the one with the isolated pawn on the
e-file.20.c5
20...cxb5The losing mistake, which looks surprising at
first sight!Correct is20...Bb8though White has21.Nd4and afterQxf322.Nexf3Rxe1+23.Rxe1Nfd524.b6White has a positional edge, but
the battle continues.21.Qxb7Qc222.Nd4The killer shot! Caruana shows
his astounding calculation ability to make the most of his advantage.Qxc523.Nxe6Qxf2+Black probably considered that this attack would give him enough
counterplay, but White is clearly winning.24.Kh1fxe625.Qxe7Rd226.Qf7+
White's queen and knight create a strong attacking tandem...26...Kh827.Ng6+Kh728.Nf8+Kh829.Qg6...while managing to defend the mating threat on g2.Rxb230.Nxe6Nh531.Qe8+Kh732.Ng5+
A beautiful final move! Given the
time he spent on each move, Caruana probably had all this worked out after
move 24.32.Ng5+hxg533.Qxh5+Kg834.Re8+Qf835.Rxf8+Kxf836.Re1
with mate-in-5 for White.1–0
Elite GMs having fun: Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana (United States) and Richard Rapport (Hungary) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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