2024 Chess Olympiad: Round 4

Daaim Shabazz September 16, 2024

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2024 Chess Olympiad: Round 4
Saturday, 14 September 2024

Open

The U.S. gets upset by Ukraine as Wesley So loses a heartbreaker against Vasyl Ivanchuk. A very uncharacteristic mistake by the gold medalist puts a barrier on gold medal aspirations as India keep rolling.

Wesley So blundered a winning position against Vasyl Ivanchuk, giving the Ukrainian GM the opportunity to turn the game around and claim victory! Wesley was visibly emotional after realizing his mistake, while Ivanchuk, in high spirits, happily signed autographs and took photos… pic.twitter.com/aLdQvJV4z9
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 14, 2024

Ray Robson also lost to Anton Korobov who jokingly stated in an interview that with the average age of the team is 70 years (actually 42), they may be past their prime. However, this win may provide hope. Ukraine won Olympiad gold in 2004 and 2010, with silver in 2016 (behind the U.S.) and bronze in 2012.

As for India, they have put up a strong performance with their young and talented side. No one is asking why Viswanathan Anand is playing because his fingerprints are all over this team. Arjun Erigaisi has increased his live rating to 2785, but expressed no specific goal to reach 2800. Erigaisi was once pegged by Fabiano Caruana to be the best out of the bunch, but there is no question that India will be strong for many years to come.

Often in the shadow of his fellow prodigies, Arjun Erigaisi has climbed to #4 in the world.
Photo by Michal Walusza

While a lot is being made of India winning their matches by large scores, Ding Liren of China stated in an interview that it is not as important as winning every match by a narrow margin. We have seen this before when a team dominates, but then loses a key match in the latter rounds. So far China is plodding along and narrowly beat Armenia 2.5-1.5.

One story of the round is defending champion Uzbekistan being crushed by Vietnam 3-1. Blitz phenom Le Tuan Minh beat Javokhir Sindarov for an upset win. The Uzbeks plummet to #15 in the standings just behind the U.S. Meanwhile, Norway won again, beating Slovakia 3-1. A young Turkish team beat Latvia 2.5-1.5 behind teen phenoms Ediz Gurel and Yagiz Erdogmus.

At 13, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus is the youngest-ever player to cross 2600 in live classical rating ??? pic.twitter.com/yrXgCiYbhp
— Chess.com (@chesscom) September 14, 2024

In other news, Nigeria made their debut in the Olympiad with a mixed team including national champions Toritsemuwa Ofowino and Deborah Quickpen. Because Nigeria was embroiled in a visa controversy, they could not field a full team in either section. Instead of forfeiting two boards per round, they formed one team and won their first match over fellow West African nation of Gabon.

Women

India is definitely making a push for double gold with the women showing the same dominance as the open team. Despite not having Humpy Koneru, they won their fourth match in a row. China won 4-nil against England and have only conceded one draw in 16 games. The U.S. has put together a surprisingly quiet string of wins as the team is led by an infusion of youth with IMs Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Carissa Yip and Alice Lee. IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih provide veteran leadership.