With medal chances bright, hosts' first and third teams should look to go for the kill and avoid friendly draw
MAMALLAPURAM: The Chess Olympiad will see another first for the Indian men when the hosts' first and third teams play each other on Friday after Thursday's rest day. And now it's up to the strategists in the teams to ensure that it remains a sporting 'contest' and doesn't turn out to be a damp squib.
With six Indian teams in the fray, there are at least two medals for the taking. For that to happen, it's imperative that India 1 and 3 in the open section don't turn their contest into a friendly draw.
Playing against your compatriots, friends, coaches and training partners is a far more difficult task in other sports because the draw cannot be agreed. And a loser almost always emerges. But with relations in play, emotions involved and sometimes cold reality of norm chances, chess' in-built agreed draw becomes a preferred, practical approach. It becomes slightly tricky in the team competitions though.
All three Indian teams have reached 10 match-points after six rounds in the 11-round Swiss League event. While India 2 and India 3 have done it with five wins and defeat, India 1 are undefeated with two draws and four wins. With each dropped match-point, the team's chance of winning gold or ensuring a medal with a round to spare take a beating.
Hence a calculated gamble of signing a peace treaty with an anti-climactic, friendly draw (and thereby dropping a point) may prove costly, especially for the second seeds 1 team against 16th seeds India 3. Moreover, Armenia and USA are ahead of India with 11 match-points and there are eight more teams placed joint second along with the three Indian teams.
If an unfancied team plays ultra-defensively against players who are far superior on paper, it can produce dead draws. The motivation levels and competitive juices of P Harikrishna, Vidit Gurathi, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Abhijeet Gupta will be tested.
Players from both sides may look at their India 2 star performer D Gukesh for inspiration. The 16-year-old has scored 6/6, almost an unthinkable effort for any Indian, including Anand, on the top board. His uncompromising approach and playing accuracy has been outstanding. No Indian man on the top board has scored even four wins in the first half of the Olympiad previously, even in a pre-engine era in which beating a lower-rated player was within striking range.
The situation is different in the women's section. India 1 are the sole leaders with an all-win record and both 2 and 3 teams are three points behind them.
The top women's team is sailing well with a win over a team from the former Soviet bloc Georgia.
NOTABLE INSTANCES OF RUSSIA VS RUSSIA AT CHESS OLYMPIAD
2010 KHANTY MANSIYSK: Russia 'A' beat Russia 'B' with only Sergey Karjakin winning on the fourth board. Other three games were drawn. Their Women's 'A' team defeated 'B' team in a last-round game when gold was assured for them and the B team was out of the medal hunt.
1994 MOSCOW: With both Russian teams leading with three rounds to go in the game-points system, they drew all four games against each other. Garry Kasparov rested himself for this contest. Women were not paired against each other.
Note: In a matchup involving the same country, getting two decisive games is a miracle.
