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India’s defending champions face a tough battle to retain their Chess Olympiad titles after crucial losses in Samarkand.
IMAGE: Nihal Sarin’s heartbreaking defeat to Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev. Photograph: Kind courtesy MGD1
Key Points
- The International Chess Federation (FIDE) notes a ‘winner’s curse’ where no Open section champion has defended their title in the last five Olympiads, and the jinx continues in the women’s section since 2022.
- Both Indian Open and Women’s teams have suffered crucial losses, making their title defence a difficult task requiring current leaders to falter and India to win all remaining matches 4-0.
- The second-seeded Indian Open team dropped to seventh position after a 1.5-2.5 loss to host Uzbekistan, with GM Nihal Sarin’s ‘brutal mental collapse’ contributing to the defeat.
- The Indian Women’s team is relatively better placed at third, but also suffered a setback with a 2.5-1.5 loss to Poland.
- Despite the challenges, experts believe India still has bright chances, with medals often decided in the final rounds, but the path to gold has become significantly tougher.
Perhaps the Chess Olympiad Winners Curse is turning true for the two Indian teams — the defending Chess Olympiad champions — at Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
The International Chess Federation or FIDE, in a statement issued a couple of days ago, said that during the last five editions of the Olympiad, no title winner in the Open section had successfully defended the title.
In the women’s section, the jinx has continued since 2022, prompting FIDE to describe it as the ‘winner’s curse’.
Lots of variables must fall in favour of the Indian chess teams — Open and Women’s — for them to defend their Olympiad Champion titles after their crucial losses.
Firstly, the current tournament leaders should draw their matches or even suffer some negative results. And the Indian teams must win all their remaining outings with a 4-0 score, a tall demand given the competition.
Is the Chess Olympiad Winner’s Curse Coming True?
The International Chess Federation or FIDE, in a statement issued a couple of days back, said that during the last five editions of the Olympiad, no title winner in the Open section had successfully defended the title.
In the women’s section, the jinx has continued since 2022, prompting FIDE to describe it as the ‘winner’s curse’.
“Still bright chances are there for India. Actually, the Olympiad medals will be decided on last three rounds,” an experienced International Chess Arbiter, not wanting to be quoted, told this correspondent.
‘Gold is not out of reach yet, but the road has certainly become much tougher,’ tweeted former Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar.
“Anything can happen when top teams are pitted against each other. Like Uzbekistan having China and the USA as strong opponents, India too have tough opponents in the remaining five rounds,” the International Arbiter added.
IMAGE: D Gukesh during India’s Chess Olympiad campaign. Photograph: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE
Indian Open Team’s Setback
In the crucial sixth-round match against the host Uzbekistan on Monday, the second-seeded Indian Open team lost 1.5-2.5 and, in the process, was pushed down to seventh position with 10 points.
While Indian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh drew their games, Nihal Sarin, who had a good position against Yakubboev Nordirbek, lost the game in the end.
‘Brutal Mental Collapse!’ termed Polgar. ‘Things were looking positive for Team India. Sarin had a better position and a 26-minute advantage on the clock. Yakubboev was down to a little more than three minutes.
‘Inexplicably, Sarin then played a series of moves using almost no time, presumably trying to put time pressure on his opponent. In fact, he even gained time with the increment. But it was a string of poor moves and blunders, and he lost his queen!’, Polgar said.
There are 11 teams with 10 points, two — China and Armenia — with 11 points, and Uzbekistan at the top with 12 points at the end of the sixth round.
On Wednesday, second-seeded India, with an average rating of 2,735 Elo points, will meet 11th-seeded England, with an average rating of 2,664.
Event leader Uzbekistan will be fighting China while Armenia will cross swords with the USA.
There are other strong teams like Germany, France, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and the like.
For India, therefore, the Uzbekistan-China encounter assumes added significance.
A draw would prevent the tournament leaders from pulling further away, while a decisive result would give one of the two teams an opportunity to consolidate its position.
Women’s Team Position and Remaining Challenges
As compared to India’s Open team, the country’s women’s team is relatively better placed in terms of ranking.
The Indian team, with 10 points, ranks third after China and Kazakhstan, both having scored 12 points. However, there are 10 other teams with 10 points.
The Indian women’s team suffered a setback in the fifth-round match against Poland.
The defending champions lost 2.5-1.5 to the Polish women, with R Vaishali losing her game to Maltsevskaya Aleksandra while all the other three games ended in a draw.
However, the challenge for the two Indian teams is to get a 100 per cent score in the remaining five rounds.
On the other hand, their opponents may play safely for a draw, and the defending champions should take care not to be adventurous in their moves and lose.
The defending champions, therefore, have little room for error.
The ‘winner’s curse’ may be a statistical pattern rather than a sporting law, but the Indian teams will need to overcome both the standings and the pressure of defending their titles in the remaining rounds.
Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
