News USA USA punctures against Uzbekistan (2-2) with Caruana’s defeat, and Spain remains on...

USA punctures against Uzbekistan (2-2) with Caruana’s defeat, and Spain remains on top

The suspicion that gold was not so easy for the USA in the Chess Olympiad in Chennai (India), because it lacks the team spirit that others do have, is starting to take hold. The undisputed favorites barely drew (2-2) with Uzbekistan. As India and Norway, seeds 2 and 32, have also stumbled, Spain shares the leadership with the fearsome wonders of India B, England and Israel, after beating (2.5-1.5) a very tough rival, India C, rival of Spain this Tuesday.

The most painful thing for the Americans in the draw against one of the youngest teams in the tournament occurred on the first board: the Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusatorov, current rapid world champion, 17 years old, 47th in the world list, beat Fabiano Caruana, 8th in the rankings and runner-up in the world in 2018, was unappealable at the strategic level. So clearly beat Sindarov (born in 2005), but Aronian could not get past the tie with Yakubboev (2002), and Shankland had to sweat blood for five hours to get half a point from Vajidov (1995). Leinier Dominguez rested.

Spain’s triumph could have been broader. The fight on the first two boards was rather short and uninteresting until the Ganguly-Shirov and Vallejo-Sethuraman games ended in draws. Everything indicated that the match was going to be decided in the third, where Jaime Santos played very well until he achieved a very advantageous position. But then he again suffered the same problem that cost him several medals in World and European Championships of different ages: playing at full speed with a lot of advantage and enough time. However, his draw was offset in the fourth by Anton, who managed to unbalance his position in the 5th hour.

Magnus Carlsen gave up a break that would have been logical when his rival, the Mongolian Batsuren, is 340 points behind him. And he played heartily, protesting angrily that a nearby door was causing an annoying noise. In addition to desire, he put precision, brilliance and forcefulness to sign a victory that he undoubtedly needed for his self-esteem. But his team stumbled (2-2) for the second day in a row. So did India, who did not go beyond the draw against France, despite the fact that this team is missing Firouzja, Vachier-Lagrave and Bacrot.

The Spanish women bounced back with a 4-0 win over Mexico from their 1-3 loss to Sweden. Top-seeded India is in the lead but tied on 8 points with seven other teams: France, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, India B, Georgia, Poland and Romania.

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