The World Chess Olympiad, traditionally the main team chess tournament, has ended in Budapest. Unfortunately, once again the history of the tournament must begin with the fact that the Russian team did not play due to sanctions. At the FIDE Congress in Hungary, the question of bringing back the Russians and Belarusians (in individual tournaments we can play without a flag, but in team tournaments we cannot play at all) was raised, but the majority of delegates spoke in favour of extending the ban on these teams and considering only opportunities for children’s teams, as well as teams of people with disabilities.
Some 20 countries voted in favour of the return of Russia and Belarus, but many delegates simply did not take part in the vote, pursuing the obvious goal of not ruining financial and commercial projects with generous neighbours and not falling under Western sanctions.
Dvorkovich did not help to resolve the issue in Russia’s favour:
FIDE was afraid to make a decision on Russia’s admission. Bach will finish the game for Dvorkovich
The last time the Russian men’s team took part in such competitions was in 2018. Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Kramnik, Nikita Vitiugov and Dmitry Jakovenko finished third behind the powerful competitors from China, led by reigning world champion Ding Liren, and the Americans with Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura.
Then, during the global coronavirus pandemic, the Russian team won the online Olympics twice, but it was an experimental tournament with fast-track control and mixed compositions: men, women, boys and girls. Even now we have no doubts about the strength of the national youth and the fair sex with the brilliant Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lagno. I am sure that if the Russian women’s team played in the Budapest tournament, it would only fight for first place. What about the men’s team, if we hypothetically imagine that they would compete?
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Photo: FIDE
Dmitry Yakovenko retired from his career and is now a programmer for Yandex, Vladimir Kramnik also retired, although he plays training matches and at this tournament proved to be an excellent coach of the Uzbekistan national team, which won bronze. Nikita Vitiugov changed federations and now heads the England national team. Sergei Karyakin became the representative of Crimea in the Federation Council and rarely plays.
Only Ian Nepomniachtchi remains, whose company will probably be young people: Russian champion Vladislav Artemyev, national vice-champion Andrei Esipenko, former world rapid champion Daniil Dubov.
And it seems to me that the Russians in Budapest would have a hard time against the background of the super teams from India and the USA, but the young and ambitious team would do everything to show its ambitions. Unfortunately, for now we can only hope that by the next Olympic Games in 2026, which will be held in Uzbekistan, the situation for the Russian teams will improve.
Kramnik is sometimes able to put on a show:
Kramnik made a checkmate mistake in two moves in the “match of the century.” However, he still beat the Internet champion.
It is sad to say that in Budapest the teams with former Russians in their line-up played well. Led by Alexander Predke (a student of the Tolyatti chess school) and Alexey Sarana (in the recent past, a chess player from the Moscow region), Serbia shared from second to sixth place, remained fifth in additional indicators and, in a slightly different situation, could have easily won medals. Slovenia, which is not among the favorites, with Vladimir Fedoseev (a few years ago he lived in St. Petersburg) and Anton Demchenko (from Novorossiysk) showed quality play and finished ninth. However, this has already happened in other sports, when an athlete who was moving began to shine for another team – it is very unpleasant to think about it, but there is nothing extraordinary about it.
The main favourites for the Olympic Games were the Americans (Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Lenier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, Ray Robson), the Indians with a contender for the world champion title Gukesh Domraju (hereinafter – Rameshbabu Pragnanandha, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrati and Pentala), who competed in an evenly matched and powerful line-up Harikrishna), the Chinese with world champion Ding Liren (also Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue), as well as the reigning 2022 champions – the Uzbeks (Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Zhavohir Sindarov, Shamsiddin Vakhidov and Jahongir Vakhidov).
Indian Chess Team
Photo: FIDE
The American team was unable to find its game for a long time and in the end it was literally a miracle that they came second. Thus, it was stated that Hikaru Nakamura did not come to the tournament. With Hikaru we would definitely beat everyone. Perhaps, but the Indian “dream team” seemed very powerful! Considering that the Indians also excelled in the women’s tournament, this all begins to look like domination. The founders of chess still have a long way to go before they achieve Soviet supremacy, but it is clear that their first place is deserved.
The contender for the world crown, Gukesh, knocked out 9 out of 10 on the first board and proved that in the autumn he will become the youngest world champion in history. Erigaisi also smashed his board – 10 out of 11, and now Arjun is considered almost the favourite for the next qualifying round. The rest of the Indians also finished on the positive side. The Indian team won 10 games and one draw, and this despite the fact that they could have also won the match against Uzbekistan, but Erigaysi missed the knockout blow!
Chess Olympiad – 2024. Final position of the teams.
1. India – 21 points 2. USA – 17 points (coefficient – 395) 3. Uzbekistan – 17 points (coefficient – 387) 4. China – 17 points (coefficient – 379.5) 5. Serbia – 17 points (coefficient – 360.5) 6. Armenia – 17 points (coefficient – 335).
Unlike India, the mighty China was dragging its world champion to the bottom. Ding Liren seemed helpless, at first he could not beat anyone and then completely lost in the match against Vietnam. As a result, I did not win a single game!
Discipline in China is tough and the world champion was simply… knocked out of the main match of the Olympics against India! I immediately remembered a case when, even before World War II, Jose Raul Capablanca did not play with Alexander Alekhine, and the enraged San Sanych demonstratively defeated the reserve player. Gukesh, with his Indian calm, did not outwardly show discontent, but played the game under pressure and beat Wei Yi in a study.
Chess Olympiad – 2024. Budapest, Hungary Gukes (India) – Wei Yi (China).
I fully admit that Chinese doctors at that time ordered the world champion to rest, and then he played better: the games with Abdusattorov and Caruana were reminiscent of the former dean. But still, this was not enough for China to win a medal: additional indicators were on the side of Kramnik’s Uzbek wards, who took bronze.
As a result, India has scored another great triumph and the whole country is looking forward to Gukesh’s victory in the fight for the world crown. The losing Americans are discussing the composition of the national team and wondering whether it is time to bring in the world’s leading journalist Hans Niemann. The Chinese are in mourning: Ding Liren, according to the online world ranking, almost dropped out of the world’s top twenty, and the Celestial Empire has unpleasantly found itself off the pedestal.
And who will become world champion?
Has the title of world chess champion become completely useless? The underdogs will play the title match
All we have to do is prepare the youngsters (the author worked for many years with both Esipenko and Nesterov, and dreams of seeing them in action) and believe in a better future. Two years before the Olympic Games in Uzbekistan will pass very quickly.
