45th Chess Olympiad R05: Vietnam, Armenia and Mongolia deliver upsets

India is excelling in both the open and women’s sections at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest. In the open section, team India defeated Azerbaijan by a strong 3-1 score, with two victories and two draws. Gukesh D and Arjun Erigaisi won their games, while Vidit Gujrathi came close to defeating Mamedyarov but missed his chance. In the women’s section, India triumphed over Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5. Both squads are displaying confident play and have avoided any close matches so far, unlike other favorites. Will they maintain this good pace through the second half of the tournament, and who will challenge them?

In the next round, Gukesh and his team will face the hosts, Hungary. In round 5, this consistent team defeated Ukraine. Richard Rapport outplayed Vasyl Ivanchuk, and all other games ended in draws. Hungary has a glorious history of Olympiad victories, but all of them were achieved in the previous century: in 1927, 1928, and 1978. Altogether, Hungary has won 12 Olympic medals, the latest being silver in 2014. The team of Péter Lékó, Csaba Balogh, Zoltán Almási, Richárd Rapport, and Judit Polgár finished ahead of India, which took bronze. Fast forward ten years, and Richard Rapport is now leading the team, eager to exceed this result on home turf.

China in the open section is also steadily winning but by narrow margins. Three draws and a victory by Wei Yi against David Anton secured them a win over Spain in round 5. In round 6, they will face the sensational team of Vietnam. After defeating Uzbekistan, Vietnam continued their hot streak by upsetting Poland. And again, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2633) and Le Tuan Minh (2564) won their games, this time against Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2681) and Mateusz Bartel (2618), respectively. With 4.5/5, having defeated Sindarov and Bartel, Le Tuan Minh’s performance rating is currently 2810. The 27-year-old became Vietnam’s 13th grandmaster in 2022. He’s also a streamer who regularly plays online chess and has Titled Tuesday win under his belt.

In the women’s section, the leaders alongside India are Armenia and Mongolia. Both teams toppled favorites in round 5. Armenia caused a sensation by beating China. Anna Sargsyan (2364) defeated 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi (2438), Elina Danielian (2393) drew with Ni Shiqun (2348), and after Mariam Mkrtchyan (2328) lost to Song Yuxin (2373), the score was 1.5-1.5. The outcome was decided by the first board game, where Lilit Mktchian (2366) was precise against Zhu Jiner (2487), who, looking at the other boards, pushed too hard for a win and ended up in an inferior position.

Mongolia triumphed over the USA 2.5-1.5. Munkhzul Turmunkh (2256) bested Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (2380) on the top board to secure the win, as all other games ended in draws. While India will face Armenia in the next round, Mongolia will be put to the test by one of the tournament’s favorites, Georgia, who are trailing the leaders by one point.

Position of the day:

Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2635) – Richard Rapport (Hungary, 2715)

Black to move

The white king on e5 is quite exotic, but how to get to it? 24…Nb8! and after 25.Rd6 Qc4 26.Qf4 White resigned as 26…f6+ wins the queen. 

Results of the top matches:

Open:

(8) India 3-1 Azerbaijan (8)
(8) Ukraine 1.5-2.5 Hungary (8)
(8) Spain 1.5-2.5 China (8)
(8) Vietnam 2.5-1.5 Poland (8)
(7) Turkiye 1-3 Norway (7)
(7) Iran 3.5-0.5 Canada (7)

Women:

(8) Kazakhstan 1.5-2.5 India (8)
(8) China 1.5-2.5 Armenia (8)
(8) Mongolia 2.5-1.5 USA (8)
(8) Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5 Georgia (7)
(7) Poland 3-1 Turkiye (7)
(7) Azerbaijan 2-2 Ukraine (7)

Full results: Chess-results.com – 45th Chess Olympiad

Written by WGM Anna Burtasova

Photos: Michal Walusza, Mark Livshitz and Maria Emelianova

Official website: chessolympiad2024.fide.com