42nd World Chess Olympiad begins; Easy start for India

 42nd World Chess Olympiad begins; Easy start for India
By Gipakumar, International Arbiter

42nd World Chess Olympiad got off to a rousing start at Baku, Azerbaijan today. A total number of 180 teams are participating in the Open section while Women section has 140 teams from across the globe.

In the opening round, the Indian teams have registered comfortable victories. Men team demolished Bolivia 4 – 0 while Women team defeated Fyrom with identical margin.

India rested their top board players P Harikrishna and Dronavalli Harika for the first round encounter and easily overcome the rivals. On top board Adhiban defeated IM Jose Daniel Gemy with dark colour pieces while Sethuraman S P outwitted Adonay Delgadillo on third board. On second and fourth board, Olympiad debutants Vidit Gujarathi and Karthikeyan Murali overcame Luis Miguel Aguilar and Alejandro Parraga respectively with light colour pieces.

Meanwhile in the Women section, was not match for the Indian might as Padmini Rout, Tania Sachdev, Soumya Swaminath and Pratyusha Bodda outclassed Monika Stojkovska, Bojana Bejatovic, Dragana Nikolovska and Simona Lakinska respectively with ease.

Earlier in a wonderful Opening Ceremony, The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, His Excellency Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the event and declared the 42nd Chess Olympiad Open in presence of Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of FIDE

Pairing and results