SAMARKAND, Sept. 23 -- The Indian men's team came up with an inspired effort to beat England while the women crushed Germany in the seventh round of the 46th Chess Olympiad here on Wednesday.
On the top board, R Praggnanandhaa showed the way with a clinical victory over Nikita Vituigov, while on the fourth, world champion D Gukesh remained invincible as he won another game.
For Gukesh, the board number does not seem important. Having won the last two gold medals playing for India on the top board, the Indian ace is looking good for a third straight gold, even on board four.
The loss on board three for Nihal Sarin against Luke McShane did not matter much for the Indian team, although it seems Vidit Gujrathi has to come back into the scheme of things.
Any hopes the German women's team had were quashed in the first hour. Koneru Humpy may be a veteran, but her class shone through as she made short work of board one.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.