India and Russia qualified for Sunday’s grand final of the FIDE Online Olympiad. While India needed a game of armageddon to beat Poland, Russia beat the United States with a 3.5-2.5 win followed by a 3-3 draw.
The FIDE Online Olympiad games can be found here as part of our live events platform. The playoffs are played August 27-30 with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV.
India-Russia
Round 1, 11:00 UTC = 4 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Central Europe / 2:00 p.m. Moscow / 4:30 p.m. India
Round 2, 12:00 UTC = 5 a.m. Pacific / 2:00 p.m. Central Europe / 3:00 p.m. Moscow / 5:30 p.m. India
India * -Poland: 1-1 (6.5-6.5)
| Bo. | one | India | Rtg | 2: 4 | two | Poland | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 | 0-1 | GM | Doubt, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 |
| 1.2 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 | 0-1 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2662 |
| 1.3 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 | ½ – ½ | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 |
| 1.4 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 | ½ – ½ | AM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 |
| 1.5 | GM | Nihal, sarin | 2418 | 1 – 0 | AM | Janik, Igor | 2531 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Divya, Deshmukh | 1775 | 0-1 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 |
| Bo. | two | Poland | Rtg | 1½: 4½ | one | India | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Doubt, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 | 0-1 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 |
| 1.2 | GM | Gajewski, Grzegorz | 2515 | 0-1 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 |
| 1.3 | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 | 0-1 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 |
| 1.4 | AM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 | 0-1 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 |
| 1.5 | AM | Janik, Igor | 2531 | 1 – 0 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1781 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 | ½ – ½ | WIM | Vantika, Agrawal | 1729 |
The first semifinal of the day was played between India and Poland. The latter started with an excellent 4-2 team victory, led by GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek on the best boards that beat GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Vidit Gujrathi respectively.
While Duda, with the black pieces, slowly squeezed Anand, Wojtaszek first won a pawn and then decided his game in a mate attack:
India hit back in the second match: 4.5-1.5. In an adventure game on board one, Anand beautifully outpointed Duda in a Nimzo-Indian, but with less time on the clock for both players, the five-time world champion lost his lead. In the opposite-colored bishop ending with rooks, he seemed to be going all-in (in this must-have win for the team) and his efforts were rewarded when Duda made a mistake in a tied ending:
Anand’s second GM, Grzegorz Gajewski, played for Poland in the second round (instead of Wojtaszek), but was unable to save the draw against Vidit. The victories of GM Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli sealed the deal for India.
Then an armageddon was played, which was already the fourth in this phase of playoffs, and the random choice fell on the women’s board, where Koneru had just beaten GM Monika Socko as Black in the regular game of the second match.
Koneru went black again (while Socko played his second armageddon in two days!), He just needed a draw, but he won again:
Congratulations to 🇮🇳 India, the first team to reach the #OnlineOlympiad‘s final after beating 🇵🇱 Poland in the game of Armageddon! pic.twitter.com/3JEsysJ90D
– ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) August 29, 2020
Russia-United States 1.5-0.5 (6.5-5.5)
| Bo. | one | Russia | Rtg | 3½: 2½ | two | U.S | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Grischuk, Alejandro | 2784 | ½ – ½ | GM | So Wesley | 2741 |
| 1.2 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2770 | ½ – ½ | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 |
| 1.3 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 | 1 – 0 | AM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 |
| 1.4 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2517 | 1 – 0 | WGM | Abrahamyan, Tatev | 2358 |
| 1.5 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2629 | ½ – ½ | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 |
| 1.6 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 | 0-1 | AM | Wang, Annie | 2384 |
| Bo. | two | U.S | Rtg | 3: 3 | one | Russia | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | So Wesley | 2741 | 1 – 0 | GM | Grischuk, Alejandro | 2784 |
| 1.2 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 | 0-1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 |
| 1.3 | AM | Yip, Carissa | 2421 | 1 – 0 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 |
| 1.4 | AM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 | 0-1 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2517 |
| 1.5 | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 | 1 – 0 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2629 |
| 1.6 | AM | Wang, Annie | 2384 | 0-1 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 |
Russia’s victory was based on their 3.5-2.5 victory in the first match, where the first two boards drew their games. While the USA won on the U20 boards 1.5-0.5, Russia scored a decisive 2-0 on the most important women’s boards.
While WGM Tatev Abrahamyan had little chance against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Anna Zatonskih did well in the opening against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, but too many inaccuracies quickly turned fatal:
Game 2 was absolutely brilliant as White scored 6-0 here with nothing but riveting games. We chose GM Jeffery Xiong’s win over GM Andrey Esipenko on the U20 board as the Game of the Day, which started with a Nimzo-Indian themed line and ended with a king running around the board:
With 2-3 on the scoreboard, it was Kosteniuk who secured Russia’s place in the final as they managed to beat Zatonskih from an initially tied position. The American player made a mistake and had her knight cornered by a bishop:
Another game also deserves attention, as Polina Shuvalova found a lovely way to finish off Annie Wang in a finale. The American player should have sacrificed a trade, after which she would have had the best chances:
The final will be played on Sunday between India and Russia starting at 11:00 UTC, which is 4:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Central Europe, 2:00 PM Moscow and 4:30 PM India.
Semifinals | All the games
The FIDE Online Olympiad is a major online chess event for national teams that takes place from July 25 to August 30 on the Chess.com server. More than 1,500 participants and 163 teams from all over the world are playing.
Each team consists of six players, including at least two women, at least one player 20 years or younger, and at least one player 20 years or younger. The time control for all matches is 15 minutes for the game and an increment of five seconds per move, starting from the first move.
Related Posts:
- FIDE Online Chess Olympiad (informational article)
- FIDE Online Olympiad launches July 25 on Chess.com
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Base Division Results
- Hong Kong, Angola Perfect, Eid Brilliant In Olympiad Division 4
- GM Zaibi plays a brilliant checkmate in the third division of the Olympiad
- Shirov on fire as online Olympiad prepares for first division
- Azerbaijan, India, Russia and US group leaders at the Olympiad online
- Reckoning for the first division of the Olympiad online
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Who made the playoffs?
- Armenia, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine enter the quarterfinals of Friday’s online Olympiad
- India, Poland, Russia and the United States in the semifinals of Saturday’s online Olympiad
