The perfect result: 6 out of 6 in Chennai

Dommaraju Gukesh is playing on home turf at the Chess Olympiad as he was born in Chennai on 29 May 2006. In 2018, he won the World Youth Championship U12 and at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, he became a Grandmaster - at that time, and after Sergey Karjakin, the second youngest Grandmaster ever.

Gukesh's score after six rounds

Gukesh does not only score, he is also scoring convinvingly. In round 4 he showed his tactical skills and his feeling for dynamics.

 

Gukesh,D2684

1–0

Vocaturo,D2616

GM

44th Olympiad 20222022

GM

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Rd1 Be6 10.Qa4 h6 11.Bxf6 After this exchange interesting complications arise. Bxf6 12.Nxd5!? The point of White's previous move. Bxd5 13.Qb5 Bxb2 14.Rxd5 Bc3+ 15.Kd1 Qe7 The position is double-edged. White's king is exposed but Black's pieces are not yet fully developed. All in all, the position is about equal but in the further course of the game Gukesh quickly outplays his opponent. 16.Bc4 Na6 17.Ke2! White moves his king to a safer square. Rac8 After 17...Nc7 White has 18.Rd7 Nxb5 19.Rxe7 Nd6 20.Bb3 with a roughly equal position. 18.Qb3 Nb4 19.Rf5 Bf6?! An inaccurary that brings Black into trouble. Better was 19...Qd7 with a roughly equal position. 20.Rb5! After first moving to the kingside, White's rook suddenly switches to the queenside, gaining a pawn. a5 21.Rxa5 Nc6? Better was 21...Rc7 22.Rc1 Kh8 23.a3 Na6 24.Rd5 and Black has compensation for the pawn. 22.Rb5 b6 23.Bd5 Na7 24.Rxb6 Now White is two pawns up and winning. Black still tries to muddy the waters, but without success. Rc3 25.Qb1 Qc5 26.Rd1 Rc2+ 27.Kf1 Rd8 28.Ne1 Rc3 29.Bxf7+! White is tactically alert. Kf8 Or 29...Kxf7 30.Rxf6+ Kxf6 31.Rxd8 Qc4+ 32.Rd3 and Black cannot make use of the pin - White is winning. 30.Bh5 Nc6 31.Rxd8+ Bxd8 32.Qg6 Qc4+ 33.Kg1 Ke7 34.Rb7+ 1–0

At the start of the Olympiad Gukesh had an Elo rating of 2684, but on the live ranking list he now already has 2719.3 points, making him the second best junior in the world - behind Alireza Firouzja - and putting him on place 27 in world rankings.

So far the most successful player in Chennai: Dommaraju Gukesh | Photo: Madelene Belinki

Gukesh's games from rounds 1 to 6

Less well-known than Gukesh is Kazybek Nogerbek, born in 2004, who plays on board 5 for Kazakhstan. Nogerbek started the Olympiad with an Elo rating of 2437, but comes to Elo-performance of 2865.

At the moment the young Kazakh is still a FM, but he proved his enormous talent in April and May 2022 at the European Youth Championships in Blitz- and Rapid chess in Rhodes, Greece: he became European Youth Champion U18 in both disciplines, blitz and rapid.

In the first six rounds in Chennai, Nogerbek had only one really strong opponent, which he, however, outplayed convincingly.

 

Zwardon,V2503

0–1

Nogerbek,K2437

IM

44th Olympiad 20222022

GM

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.a3 0-0 8.b4 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Qc5 Qxc5 11.bxc5 e4 12.Ng5 Bf5 13.Bb2 f6 14.Nh3 b6 15.Rc1 Na5 16.cxb6 cxb6 17.Ba6 Bc8 18.Be2 Be6 19.d3 exd3 20.Bxd3 Rac8 21.0-0 Rfd8 22.Ba6 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Ne7 24.Nf4 Bc4 25.Bxc4+ Nxc4 26.Bd4 Nxa3 27.Rc7 Rc8 28.Nd5 Rxc7 29.Nxc7 Nc6 30.Bb2 Nc4 31.Bc3 Nd6 32.Kf1 a5 33.Ke2 b5 34.Kd3 b4 35.Be1 a4 36.Na6 b3 37.Nc5 Ne5+ 38.Kd2 Ndc4+ 39.Kc1 b2+ 40.Kb1 a3 41.h3 Kf7 42.Bb4 Ng6 43.Ne4 Nge5 44.f4 Nd3 45.Nd6+ Nxd6 46.Bxd6 Ke6 47.Bxa3 Kd5 48.Bf8 g6 49.Bg7 f5 50.Bc3 Kc4 51.Bf6 h5 52.Ka2 Ne1 53.Kxb2 Nxg2 54.Kc2 Nxe3+ 55.Kd2 Ng2 56.Ke2 Nxf4+ 57.Kf3 Nd5 58.Bg5 Kd4 59.h4 Ke5 60.Bd8 Kd6 61.Ba5 Nc7 62.Be1 Ne6 63.Bc3 Ke7 64.Bd2 Kf7 65.Bc3 g5 66.hxg5 Kg6 67.Bb4 f4 68.Be7 Kf5 69.g6 Nd4+ 70.Kg2 Kxg6 71.Kh3 Nf3 72.Bd6 Ng5+ 73.Kg2 Kf5 74.Be7 Kg4 75.Bc5 Ne4 76.Bb6 Nd6 77.Ba7 Nf5 78.Bb8 Ne3+ 79.Kh2 Kf3 80.Kg1 Kg3 81.Bc7 h4 82.Ba5 h3 83.Be1+ Kf3 84.Kh2 Ke2 85.Bh4 Nf5 86.Bd8 f3 87.Bb6 Ne3 0–1

Nogerbek's score after six rounds

Nogerbek's ganes from rounds 1 to 6

In the Women's Olympiad only one player has 6 out of 6: Oliwia Kiolbasa, Poland's board three. Kiolbasa was born on 26 April 2000 in Augustow and in 2016 she became a WIM. But her biggest success so far was third place in the 2021 European Women's Championship.

At the start of the Chess Olympiad, Kiolbasa had an Elo rating of 2376, but her current Elo- performance in Chennai is 2952.

Kiolbasa's score after six rounds

In round 4 Kiolbase showed her feeling for dynamics when playing against Machteld Van Foreest from the Netherlands.

 

Van Foreest,M2299

0–1

Kiolbasa,O2376

WIM

Olympiad Women 20222022

WIM

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 0-0 9.Qe2 a5 10.a4 Nd4 11.Qd3 Nxb3 12.cxb3 c6 13.Be2 Re8 14.0-0-0!? A novelty that forces Black to react energetically. d5! 15.f4 15.exd5 g5! 16.Bg3 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Kb1 Qf6 leads to a double-edged position with chances for both sides. 15...g5! A strong counter on the kingside - the side where White wanted to attack! 16.fxg5 Nxe4 17.Rhf1 hxg5 18.Bh5 Striving for complications. After 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.Bf2 Be6 Black's a pawn up and clearly better. 18...gxh4 19.Bxf7+ Kg7 20.Bxe8 Qg5+! 21.Kb1 Nf2 22.Rxf2 Bxf2 Black regained the exchange and is close to winning. Black's pieces are active and the passed pawn on the d-file is very strong. 23.Ka2 Bf5 24.Qf3 Be3 25.Rf1 Rxe8 26.Qxf5 Qxf5 27.Rxf5 d4 28.Nd1 Bg1 29.Nf2 Kg6 30.Rf4 Bxf2 31.Rxf2 d3 32.Rd2 Rd8 33.b4 axb4 34.b3 Kf5 35.Kb2 Ke4 36.Kc1 Ke3 37.g3 h3 38.g4 Rg8 39.Rd1 Rxg4 40.Re1+ Kd4 0–1

Kiolbasa's games from rounds 1 to 6

It will be interesting to see how long the winning streaks of Gukesh, Nogerbek and Kiolbasa will continue. They are impressive in any case.

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