Budapest R5 (open): India, China, Hungary and Vietnam still perfect

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/16/2024 – Round 5 of the Chess Olympiad saw four teams scoring wins on the top boards to end the day tied for the lead with a 10/10 match points, including pre-tournament favourites India, China, and Hungary. The surprise co-leader is Vietnam, the only team outside the top-10 seeds to keep pace with the elite. Among the standout individual performances, India's Dommaraju Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi continue to shine, each maintaining a perfect score so far. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Gukesh and Arjun with perfect scores

Find below videos from the venue by Arne Kaehler and expert analysis by GM Daniel King and IM Robert Ris.

Four teams are sharing the lead with 10/10 match points after round 4 of the Chess Olympiad. Among them are pre-tournament favourites India and China, both of which remain undefeated on individual boards. India have been particularly dominant, having scored 18 out of 20 points so far. The other two co-leaders are Hungary, the host nation, bolstered by the return of Richard Rapport and Peter Leko, and Vietnam, the big surprise of the tournament.

India secured a 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan, with Dommaraju Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi winning on boards 1 and 3, both with the white pieces. The two rising stars continue their perfect run in Budapest, and their performances are pushing them closer to the 2800 rating barrier. In fact, Arjun and Gukesh have climbed to 4th and 5th place in the live ratings list, further highlighting their remarkable progress of the last few years.

China triumphed over Spain with a key win by Wei Yi on board 2 against David Anton. The rest of the match saw draws on boards 1, 3, and 4. Wei, with 3½ points out of 4, has been showing excellent form, continuing from his earlier success at the Tata Steel Masters. World champion Ding Liren, however, has drawn all his games in the Olympiad so far and has dropped to 19th in the live ratings list.

Hungary faced Ukraine in a much-anticipated clash, which saw Richard Rapport defeat Vasyl Ivanchuk on the top board in an exciting encounter between two of the most creative players in the circuit. The remaining games ended in draws, giving Hungary the narrow match victory. The local team is now firmly in the running for a top spot, buoyed by the return of two of their strongest players, Rapport and Peter Leko.

Richard Rapport

Richard Rapport got the better of Vasyl Ivanchuk with the black pieces - a battle of creative stars from two different generations | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The biggest upset of the day was Vietnam's victory over Poland. After defeating the defending champions Uzbekistan in the previous round, Vietnam continued their impressive run with a 3-1 victory over the Poles. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Tuan Minh secured the key wins, keeping Vietnam in the group of co-leaders.

In Monday's clashes of co-leaders, China will face Vietnam, with Ding playing on board 1 for the Chinese squad, while India will take on Hungary, with Leko set to return to the boards after resting in round 4.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Le Quang Liem

Vietnam facing Poland, with Le Quang Liem and Jan-Krzysztof Duda on the top board | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

David Anton, Wei Yi

China's Wei Yi defeated Spain's David Anton, who entered the round with a 4/4 perfect score | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Rapport beats Ivanchuk

After beating Wesley So on Saturday, Ivanchuk faced a fellow creative player in Rapport, with the white pieces. A complex opening left the Ukrainian genius with 6 minutes on the clock before move 20. At that point, he faltered by pinning all his hopes on a direct attack along the dark squares around his opponent's king.

White is temporarily a piece up, though ...e7-e6 will grab the light-squared bishop due to the pin along the e-file (preventing this idea would lead to a quick defeat). Thus, Ivanchuk went for 20.Be5, when 20.Bh6, 20.Rd1 or 20.e4 were better tries to deal with the potential threats against his king stuck in the centre.

After 20...e6 21.Qf6 (threatening checkmate) Rapport found 21...Rxd5+ 22.Ke4 Rxe5+ 23.Kxe5, and the king is far too vulnerable on e5!

Rapport duly made the most of the white monarch's unfortunate placement - 23...Qe2 24.Rd4 Nb8 (a lethal backward jump) 25.Rd6 Qc4 26.Qf4

Here Ivanchuk lost on time, though his position is completely hopeless - 26...f6+ is coming with devastating effect.

Richard Rapport, Vasyl Ivanchuk

Two geniuses at work | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza


Expert analysis

GM Daniel King

IM Robert Ris


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Standings after round 5 - Open

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 India 10
2 China 10
3 Vietnam 10
4 Hungary 10
5 Iran 9
6 Norway 9
7 Uzbekistan 8
8 Georgia 8
9 Azerbaijan 8
10 United States of America 8
11 Spain 8
12 Romania 8
13 Poland 8
Ukraine 8
15 Italy 8
16 Lithuania 8
17 Armenia 8
18 France 8
19 England 8
20 Israel 8

...186 teams

Round 6 pairings - Open

Team Pts. MP : MP Pts. Team
China 15½ 10 : 10 16 Vietnam
Hungary *) 15 10 : 10 18 India
Norway 15 9 : 9 15 Iran
United States 15½ 8 : 8 13½ Romania
Israel 14½ 8 : 8 15 Uzbekistan
Netherlands 13½ 8 : 8 14½ Croatia
Italy 13½ 8 : 8 13 England
Poland 14 8 : 8 13 Austria
Azerbaijan 14 8 : 8 14½ Lithuania
Georgia 15½ 8 : 8 15 Spain
Iceland 13½ 8 : 8 14 France
Ukraine 14 8 : 8 13 Montenegro
Chile 13½ 8 : 8 12 Serbia
Philippines 15 8 : 8 14 Armenia
Denmark 11½ 7 : 7 15½ Czech Republic

...93 boards


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

All available games - Round 5 (Open)

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Carlos 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.