Olympics, Round 6

Armenia defeats the prodigies to take the lead

So far, 16-year-old(!!) Dommaraju Gukesh has been unstoppable, going 6-0 in the Olympiad, but it turns out that his team, India 2, can be stopped - and they were. The Armenia squad overcame that loss with wins on boards 3 and 4 to take sole possession of first, and they are the only team that can still boast of a perfect board score. I don’t believe this is the end of India 2’s battle for first; they will be back.

As for Armenia, their reward in round 7 will be a match with the U.S. team, which squeaked out with a win against Iran. The games on boards 2-4 were fairly uneventful draws, and on board 1 the hitherto winless Fabiano Caruana defeated Parham Maghsoodloo on the white side of a theoretical Najdorf to give the Americans the victory.

There’s one thing I want to say about the coming Armenia-USA match, and it’s this: I hope Levon Aronian does not play. As far as I know, his changing federations from Armenia to the United States is not due to any animus against his homeland or his former compatriots. Gabriel Sargissian, Armenia’s board 1, was for years one of his main assistants, if not his main assistant, full stop. He was a national hero who left because the Armenian government’s support of chess had declined. (Bad news, Levon: the U.S. government doesn’t support chess at all. Sinquefieldia is not a country.) Of course, he has the right to play in the match, and if he plays the way he would against any other country it’s in our best interest to have him play. But he shouldn’t.

While I’m opining, let me add that I’m also disappointed about Hikaru Nakamura’s non-participation, although that may be a question of eligibility. Perhaps he needed to get in some games in 2021 to qualify for the team, and his abstaining from all OTB chess left him ineligible. But if he could have played, but simply chose not to, then I’m disappointed. When you have the chance to represent your country, then unless your country is some sort of hellhole that persecutes its own citizens or is run by a crackpot dictator who invades neighboring countries or sponsors terrorist activities, play for your country. Your country isn’t perfect, but neither are you (and neither am I). So do your best for your homeland, and make your fellow citizens proud of you.

Moving on: In other top matches, India 1 drew with the misbehaved team from Uzbekistan that drew with the U.S. back in round 4, Cuba-Spain was also a 2-2 draw, Serbia upset Poland 2.5-1.5, the Netherlands beat Georgia 2.5-1.5, Germany beat Italy 2.5-1.5, England failed to beat an outgunned Austrian team and only managed a split match, the French beat the Swiss 2.5-1.5, and India 3 (don’t forget about them!) drubbed Lithuania 3.5-0.5.

So here are the standings: Armenia is in first with 12 points (it’s 2-1-0 scoring), the US is in clear second with 11, and 12 teams have 10 points. In tiebreak order (of which board points is the first criterion), they are: India 2, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, France, Kazakhstan, Cuba, India 1, India 3, Germany, and Serbia. And here are the leading pairings for round 7, which is tomorrow (today has been a rest day):

Armenia - USA

India 1 - India 3 (I assume they are on board 2 in reality. Unfortunately, the India 1 team is always ceremonially given board 1. I can sort of understand why, but it’s an insult to whatever team is actually in first place. It would be especially shameful if it turns out that the team in first happens to be India 2 or 3!)

France - Netherlands

Serbia - Germany

Cuba - India 2

Peru - Uzbekistan

Spain - Kazakhstan

Finally, here is today’s selection of games.