9/14/2024 – The third round of the Women's Chess Olympiad in Budapest delivered excitement and surprises, with both upsets and closely fought draws reshaping the tournament landscape. The mix of expected results and surprises left 16 teams tied sharing the lead, all with perfect scores of 6/6. The biggest upset was suffered by the local squad, as Hungary were defeated by Uzbekistan. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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In this course, Grandmaster Felix Blohberger delivers a complete opening repertoire for White, centred around the flexible move 1.Nf3.
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Big teams are held to draws
After three rounds at the Women's Olympiad, 16 teams have perfect 6/6 scores. These teams represent some of the strongest chess nations in the world, but notably, they include one of the tournament's biggest surprises so far: Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan delivered the upset of the third round by defeating Hungary, the 12th seed, by a 2½-1½ score. On board 1, Afruza Khamdamova made the most of Gaal Zsoka's blunder in a pure rook endgame to grab a full point. On board 3, Umida Omonova also triumphed with black, securing another crucial point for Uzbekistan. Their performance is a testament to the rising strength of chess in Uzbekistan, and the team will be one to watch closely in the upcoming rounds.
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
Besides Hungary's setback, four more teams that entered the Olympiad as serious contenders for the top spots were held to surprising draws by lower-rated opponents, highlighting the depth of talent across the competition. Georgia, seeded 2nd, were held to a draw by Romania, the 22nd seed. Poland, seeded 3rd, drew against Greece, seeded 23rd, as Ekaterina Pavlidou upset Aleksandra Maltsevskaya on board 3. Azerbaijan, seeded 10th, faced a tough battle against Argentina, seeded 26th, with the match ending in a draw. Finally, Germany, seeded 11th, were held to a draw by Slovenia, seeded 28th, in another hard-fought match.
Slovenia's Laura Unuk held Germany's Dinara Wagner to a draw with the black pieces | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
While team scores are essential in the Olympiad, individual performances also stand out, and China and Vietnam have been particularly dominant. Both teams have accumulated an impressive 11½/12 points on individual boards, placing them as strong contenders for podium places going forward. A standout player from China has been Lu Miaoyi, the 14-year-old prodigy who has won all three of her games. Her perfect 3/3 score reflects her incredible talent and composure, even at such a young age.
Round 4 promises even more excitement, with several high-stakes matches that will see top teams battling to stay in the leading group. India will face a tough challenge from France, while China's match against England is set to be one of the highlights of the round, with the possibility of a clash between 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi and 9-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan. Ukraine, the defending champions, will face Türkiye in a match that could have major implications for the standings.
Meanwhile, Georgia, Poland, Azerbaijan, and Germany will be looking to bounce back after their draws. With exciting matchups lined up for round 4, the competition is only heating up, and every round brings new surprises as teams vie for the coveted Olympiad title in Budapest.
Vietnam's Pham Le Thao Nguyen, playing on the top board, has a perfect 2/2 score so far in the event | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
Two beautiful checkmates
Georgia would have likely defeated Romania had Bela Khotenashvili not blundered into checkmate in her game with black against Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu.
Looking for a realistic way to play for a win with Black against 1.e4 without taking unnecessary risks? The Taimanov Sicilian is a reliable system, and hence one of the best options out there!
35...Qxe2 loses at once to 36.Qxh7+, due to 36...Kxh7 37.Rh3#. The battle would have kept going after 35...Rxd4+ since, for example, 36.Qxh7+ fails to 36...Kxh7 37.Rh3+ Qh4.
Georgia facing Romania, with Nana Dzagnidze playing white against Irina Bulmaga on the top board (1-0) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
India's Divya Deshmukh, currently on 3/3, delivered checkmate with a pawn in her game with black against Switzerland's Sofiia Hryzlova.
Hryzlova v. Divya
The white king is stuck in the centre - 32...f3# put an end to the game.
India beat Switzerland by a 3-1 score, with wins on boards 2-4 - Switzerland's Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Harika Dronavalli | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
ChessBase TV presents
Anna Cramling - "I play better chess, when my opponent coughs!"
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
How do you play the Queen's Gambit Accepted? Does White have promising variations or can Black construct a water-tight repertoire? The Powerbook provides the answers based on 300 000 games, most of them played by engines.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 11827 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 240 are annotated.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
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