The top board match in round 7 of the Olympiad, between India and China, was a great battle, and that despite (hopefully not because of) the absence of Ding Liren. I’m not sure whose decision it was to have Ding avoid a board 1 clash and World Championship preview against Gukesh Dommaraju, but he was rested and Wei Yi put in his place on the top board. (Which, by rating, was where he belonged in any case.) Somewhat surprisingly, boards 2-4 were drawn, so it came down to the Gukesh-Wei Yi game. Early on, Wei Yi had a serious advantage, but a series of inaccuracies from moves 19 to 22 turned the tables, and now it was Gukesh who was nearly winning. He erred in turn, and for a long time the game and the match seemed headed for a draw. Gukesh kept working, and eventually managed to prevail with two knights against a rook. India remains perfect, having won all 7 matches to lead with 14 points.
Iran is in second, thanks to their win on board 3 against Vietnam. They have 13 points, a point clear of four teams:
(1) Uzbekistan (3-1 winners over Ukraine),
(2) Hungary (Peter Leko’s win on board 2 secured their 2.5-1.5 victory over Lithuania),
(3) Armenia (2.5-1.5 winners against England), and
(4) Serbia (3-1 winners over the Netherlands).
Seven teams have 11 points, including the U.S. (3-1 winners over Greece) and Norway (3-1 victors over Austria).
Here’s tonight’s game selection, and here are the leading pairings for round 8:
Iran (13) - India (14)
Hungary (12) - Armenia (12)
Serbia (12) - Uzbekistan (12)
USA (11) - France (11)
China (11) - Romania (11)
Vietnam (11) - Norway (11)
Georgia (11) - Netherlands (10)