Chess Olympiad 2024 Round 1 Highlights: India start with a bang as all four Indians victorious

There you go! Arjun Erigaisi, the top ranked Indian in the world at No 4, is not to be left behind as he coasts to a victory with black pieces. He takes down Elbilia Jacques as India start their campaign with a 4-0 victory over Morocco. 

here's how the game played out: 

It's raning wins for the Indian team in the open section. Minutes after Pragg and Vidit, the oldest player in the Indian chess team, Pentala Harikrishna, also registers a win after delivering a deathly check on the enemy king. 

Moayad Anas threw in the towel soon enough as India raced to a 3-0 lead. It will be 4-0 soon as Arjun is also coasting to a win. 

Here's how the game played out:

MInutes after Pragg won his game, Vidit also forces his opponent to resign. India are up 2-0 on the scoreboard, with both of their players playing with white pieces winning their games.

Vidit's game against Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre lasted 28 moves before the Moroccan threw in the towel! 

Here's how the game played out:

A 30-move knockout from Pragg to giove India a 1-0 lead! What a game from Pragg who had his opponent under pressure right from the start. By the end, Pragg forced Tissir Mohamed under pressure both on the clock and on the board, with his king cornered! The Moroccan eventually lost on time.

 INDIA 1-0 Here's how Pragg's win played out:

All the activity happening on the G and H files at the moemnt. And Pragg's opponent has just over a minute left on the clock to extricate his claustrophobically trapped king out of that hole he finds himself in. 

Praggnanandhaa's opponent Tissir Mohamed is down to 10 minutes on his clock. And only 21 moves have been played so far, which means he has to make 19 more moves in that time!

Here are all the moves so far: 

1 e4 c5
2 f3 d6
3 d4 cxd4
4 xd4 f6
5 c3 c6
6 g5 e6
7 d2 a6
8 xc6 bxc6
9 O-O-O e7
10 xf6 gxf6
11 c4 O-O
12 h6 h8
13 d3 g8
14 h3 g7
15 f4 g8
16 g3 b8
17 h5 b4
18 d3 c5
19 a3 b8
20 f1 g6
21 ff3 g7

Arjun Erigaisi, the madman on the chessboard, is piling on the pressure on his opponent with the black pieces. His opponent Elbilia Jacques had created a little castle around his king at one end of the board, but Arjun is now pushing his pawn to the touchline to promote it, thereby forcing his opponent into a long period of thought. Arjun is already up two pawns and a rook, while his opponent has an additional knight and bishop in play.

Here's how the game has played out so far: 

Team USA are the top seeds in the open section, ahead of the young Indina team. They could have been much higher rated, if their top ranked player, Hikaru Nakamura had chosen to play.

But Nakamura chose to skip the event saying he had no incentive to play because the tournament does not provide points for the Candidates cycle. 

"It doesn't count towards the Candidates and World Championship cycle. So there's really very little value in spending time playing at such an event. It's long and greuelling as opposed to staying home and streaming. having won the event in 2016, what's the upside? You can win another gold. But it's not quite the same after you have already won," Hikaru said. 

He went on to say that the Indian team was the overwhelming favourites.

"India are very formidable. I do know that for India Arjun will not be playing on Board 1, so if Pragg is in form and Gukesh plays decently, India will be very formidable. I don't see any way in which this team is not the clear favourite." 

In their individual games, both Praggnanandhaa (with white against Tissir Mohamed) and Arjun Erigaisi (black vs Elbilia Jacques) are leading on the clock with almost half an hour more time their opponents. 

In the absense of Gukesh, Pragg is playing on the top board for India today. 

In his game against Elbilia Jacques, Arjun is playing with black pieces. And by his fifth move, his bishop and knight have already encroached on the enemy territory, looking for an open confrontation. 

And an open confrontation is what he will get as his opponent picks up a knight, while Arjun retailiates by slaying a bishop. 

here are the first 10 moves of the game so far:

1 d4 f6
2 c4 e6
3 c3 b4
4 e3 b6
5 ge2 e4
6 d2 xd2
7 xd2 O-O
8 a3 e7
9 g3 b7
10 e4 c6

After Pragg, playing with the white pieces, pushes his king's pawn ahead with his first move, the Moroccan International Master Mohamed Tissir opts for a Modern Variation of the Sicilian Defense.

here are all the moves from the Praggnanandhaa R vs Tissir Mohamed games so far

1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 d6
3 d4 cxd4
4 Nxd4 Nf6
5 Nc3 Nc6
6 Bg5 e6
7 Qd2

Here's the board order for India:

Praggnanandhaa R (with white pieces) vs Tissir Mohamed

Arjun Erigaisi (with black pieces) vs Elbilia Jacques

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (with white pieces) vs Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre
 
Harikrishna Pentala (with black pieces) vs Moayad Anas

Teams playing at the Chess Olympiad in the open category are contesting for the ‘Hamilton-Russell Cup’. Meanwhile, the team that wins the women's section receives the ‘Vera Menchik Cup’. 

The overall contingent that wins the combined event receives the ‘Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy’.

There are also individual medals on offer for each board.

While Gukesh has chosen to sit out the first round for India, Norway's top board player Magnus Carlsen will also be sitting out today's round. World Champion Ding Liren will also sit out for China while Fabiano Caruana also skips for USA. 

But expect all of them to be back in round 2.

Praggnanandhaa R (with white pieces) vs Tissir Mohamed

Arjun Erigaisi (with black pieces) vs Elbilia Jacques

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (with white pieces) vs Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre
 
Harikrishna Pentala (with black pieces) vs Moayad Anas

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the first round of the Chess Olympiad from Budapest. The Indian team takes on Morocco in the Open section while the women's team will face Jamaica. 

This is our blog for the open section action.