India off to a winning start in Online Olympiad 2020

Indian team holding a combination of youth and experience defeated Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Uzbekistan on the first day of the FIDE Online Olympiad 2020. The Top Division – Pool A Online Olympiad games saw India beat Zimbabwe 6-0, Vietnam 4-2 and Uzbekistan 5.5 – 0.5  respectively. India (15.5/18 game points) shared the top spot with China and Germany at 6 match points each. World Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy, GM Dronavalli Harika and GM Nihal Sarin shone for India with 2/2 performance on the first day.

In the third and final round of the first day, India shed a solitary draw in the top board defeating Uzbekistan 5.5 – 0.5, which placed them on top of the leaderboard after day one. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Uzbek GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek in the top board. In the second round, India defeated Vietnam 4-2, thanks to wins by Humpy, Harika and Nihal which offset the lone defeat in the last board by Divya.

Earlier, the first round saw India sweep bottom seed Zimbabwe 6-0, with Vidit, Aravindh, Bhakti, Vaishali, Nihal and Divya scoring easy wins over their lower rated opponents.

Other teams in Top Division (Pool A) along with India are China, Germany, Vietnam, Indonesia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Mongolia and Zimbabwe. The top three move to the next stage of play off that runs from 27th to 30th August, 2020.