2024 Chess Olympiad: Round 3

Daaim Shabazz September 15, 2024

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2024 Chess Olympiad: Round 3
Friday, 13 September 2024

Nice aerial shot by Michal Walusza!

Open

Round 3 of the Budapest Olympiad saw some contested battles, but the buzz of the round was the world’s top player, Magnus Carlsen, arriving 11 minutes late for his first game. Team Captain Odin Blikra Vea explained the weather was bad and caused delays, but the driver did not speak English, which complicated the task of picking up their top player.

Carlsen is staying at a different hotel from the Norwegian team, but the team bus was already in traffic when he decided to take a bike to the venue. He lost his direction and could be seen pulling into the stadium and walking briskly to the playing hall. He sat down and responded with 1…c5 and went on to led Norway to a 3.5-.5 win.

Another big story is that of Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria. We reported earlier that the team has had visa issues and was not able to field a full team in either section. They were not paired for Round 3 and assembled a mixed team, with former national women’s champion Toritsemuwa Ofowino and Deborah Quickpen being put on the Open team. Quickpen is a sensation and the reigning Nigerian women’s champion at 13 years old.

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Destination: Budapest, Hungary
Mission: Chess Olympiad
Target: ?
It's time to raise the ?? flag flying high
Wish us success ???#deborahquickpen #chessplayer pic.twitter.com/wvoqSKRtvK
— Deborah Quickpen (@deborahquickpen) September 14, 2024

There were a couple of upsets in this round. Italy crushed the Netherlands 3-1, with Anish Giri dropping his game to Lorenzo Lodici. In fact, the Dutch lost on three boards which could be very damaging for tiebreaks. Lithuania toppled Germany 2.5-1.5, with Vincent Keymer upset on board 1. Sixteen teams have a perfect score, with India, USA, and defending champion Uzbekistan leading the pack.

At this point in the tournament, 12 countries were not paired in the Open section, nine of which were African.

Women

Divya Deshmukh is on 3/3 after throwing mate on the board!

The third round had no big stories, as the top seed India won. However, 15 other teams had perfect scores, and the U.S., Spain, and England have the top three spots. China’s Zhu Jiner found a nice exchange sacrifice with 25.Rf6! and converted nicely.