44th Chess Olympiad 2022: Number Of Medals And Victory List Of Matches

The 44th Chess Olympiad started on July 28 at Mamallapuram next to Chennai. 188 teams participated in the open category, and 162 participated in the women's category. In both the divisions of this 11-round tournament, three teams each entered the field on behalf of India. 

The 11th and final round of chess games took place yesterday (August 9), the last day of this Chess Olympiad festival. In the open category, India's 2nd team defeated Germany by 3-1.

Other Indian players Pragnananda agreed to a 'draw' with Rasmussen in the 49th move and D. Gukesh with Keymer Vincent after the 75th move. The match between India's 1st team and USA teams ended in a 2-2 draw. In the Indian team, Arjun Erigaisi won, and Narayanan lost. 

Vidit Gujrathi and Harikrishna 'draw' their matches. India's 1st team's medal dreams ended in a draw. Similarly, India's 3rd team drew 2-2 with Kazakhstan. Indian player Murali Karthikeyan won the match. Surya Shekhar Ganguly faced the loss. Other Indian players Sethuraman and Abhimanyu Puranik ended their matches in a 'draw'. 

The leading Uzbekistan team recorded their 8th win in their last round by defeating the Netherlands 2½-1½. Vohidov Zakhonjir, who played with black pieces in Uzbekistan's 3-player 'draw', defeated Warmerdam Max of the Netherlands in the 60th move to secure victory for his team. 

Armenia took their 9th victory by defeating their opponents Spain 2½-1½. At the end of the final round, the undefeated Uzbekistan team (8 wins, 3 draws) and Armenia (9 wins, one draw, one loss) tied with 19 points in the open category. After that, the Uzbekistan team took the lead based on tiebreaker points and won the gold medal. The young Uzbekistan team was ranked 13th in the tournament standings. 

The young players who saw the field without huge expectations took the oath and created history. Armenia got the silver medal. India's 2nd team (8 wins, two draws, one loss) bagged the bronze medal with 18 points. In the women's category, the Indian 1st team, who played amid strong pressure to win the gold medal if they won the last round, faced defeat against the United States with a score of 1-3. 

India's Vaishali-Krush Irina (USA) ended in a 'draw' in the 44th move and Koneru Humpy-Tokhirjonova in the 40th move. Other Indian players were Tania Sachdev, who fell to Yip Carissa in the 46th game, and Bhakti Kulkarni to Abrahamyan Dade in the 48th game. 

The match between India's 2nd team and Slovakia ended in a 2-2 draw. In the Indian team, Divya Deshmukh won, and Padmini Rout lost. Vantika Agrawal and Mary Ann Gomes drew their matches. India's 3rd team lost to Kazakhstan by 1½-2½ points. In the Indian team, Eesha Karavade and Nandita lost, and Pratyusha won. Sahiti Varshini 'Draw' her match. 

Uzbekistan wins open gold. The gold for the Ukrainian team did not go to the losing side, but the Ukrainian team tasted the 7th victory by defeating Poland with a score of 3-1 in the last round. Similarly, Georgia defeated Azerbaijan 3-1 to register their 8th victory. At the end of the 11th round, Ukraine (7 wins, four draws) and Georgia (8 wins, two draws, one loss) were tied with 18 points each in the women's category.

However, Ukraine took the lead on tiebreaker points and claimed the gold medal. Georgia got the silver medal. Teams India 1st, USA and Kazakhstan are tied with 17 points each, but India 1st, which was in the highest position based on tiebreaker points, finished 3rd and bagged the bronze medal.