Chess Olympiad: Indian men's team register dominating win against Iran

The Indian men's team's winning run continued at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, after their dominating (3.5-0.5) win over Iran. They solidified their lead in the tournament after round 8 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the women's team suffered their first defeat (1.5-2.5) in the tournament, losing to the Polish team in the eighth round. However, based on better tiebreakers, they are still leading the tournament.

The men's team was high on confidence after their win over the Chinese team in the previous round and made light work of a solid Iranian team after winning three of the four matches of the tie.

Arjun Erigiasi, D Gukesh, and Vidit Gujrathi secured wins on board no.3, 1, and 4 respectively. Whereas, R Pragganadhaa played out a draw against Amin Tabatabaei on the second board.

Gukesh had an outstanding rating performance of 3085 in the tournament so far securing 6.5/7 points. On board 3, Arjun Erigiasi also had a great rating performance of 3011, having 7.5/8 points.

Setback for the Indian women's team

Indian women's team had a roadblock in the tournament after losing their first match in Budapest against Poland in an intense battle that lasted for more than 5 hours.

The top two boards, Harika and Vaishali lost their match against Alina Kashlinskaya and Monica Socko respectively.

Whereas, Divya Deshmukh continued her great run in the tournament and won her match against Aleksandra Maltsevskaya and now has a solid 7/8 points in the tournament.

The last tie's hero, Vantika, almost pulled out a crucial one-point from the tie for her team as she was leading by +3 against Alicja Sliwicka.

But, under time pressure, the youngster made a few inaccuracies and drew her game, resulting in a 1.5-2.5 defeat for the Indian team.

However, the team is still leading the tournament in the women's category with better tiebreaker points (237.5) in a three-way battle against Poland (233) and Kazakhstan (205.5).