World Champions D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, pushed the Indian men to score a 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.
It seems like Gukesh and Arjun can do nothing wrong in this Olympiad as they overpowered Aydin Sulemanli and Rauf Mamedov respectively with their white pieces.
Praggnanandhaa contributed with a draw which was followed by Vidit Gujrathi’s draw with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, both draws ensured victory for the Indian side.
After scoring the fifth victory on the run, the Indian men maintained a clean slate on ten points and they were joined by Vietnam who continued with their impressive show against Poland 2.5-1.5.
The other two teams that joined the leader’s pack were China and Hungary, scoring identical 2.5-1.5 victories over Spain and Ukraine, respectively.
With six rounds still to come in the biggest chess event, Magnus Carlsen’s Norway and Iran are the only two teams sharing the fifth spot on 9 points apiece.
Norway defeated Turkey by a 3-1 margin while Iran made most of the opportunities to down Canada 3.5-0.5.
Team India joined Armenia and Mongolia in the lead by ten points. Armenia halted the Chinese party for now handing them a 2.5-1.5 defeat while Mongolia proved superior to the United States with a similar score.
The three leaders have 10 points apiece and they are now followed by Georgia and Poland a half point behind.
Gukesh scored his fourth victory in a row after routing Sulemanli.
The World Championship challenger got a huge middle-game advantage with scattered black pieces and a weak king and made no mistakes in converting that into a full point.
Arjun is the only Indian who has played all five games thus far and the primary reason is his ability to complicate matters with either colour.
Up against Mamedov, it was Sicilian Dragon structure wherein Arjun converted to a complicated endgame and then his precise calculation helped him carve out his fifth win as many games.
For the records, Arjun is currently at 2888 ELO rating points in live ratings and just 12 short of attaining the magical 2800 mark – a summit captured by only Viswanathan Anand as an Indian.
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