Koneru Humpy leads India into Chess Olympiad finals for the first time

Until now, India has only won one bronze medal (in 2014) at the Chess Olympiad, and this will be the first time a gold medal or a silver medal will be coming home after the FIDE Online Olympiad finals.

Moneycontrol News

August 29, 2020 / 08:04 PM IST

Image courtesy: (Carlos Esteves on Unsplash)

World Rapid Chess Champion Koneru Humpy led India into the finals of the FIDE Online Olympiad for the first time. Her 2-1 win against Poland in the Armageddon paved India’s way into the Chess Olympiad finals on August 29.

World Women Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy wins a decisive Armageddon game with Black against Monika Socko & Team India makes it to the final of FIDE Online #ChesOlympiad. They will play a winner of Russia - USA match that will start at 16:00 UTC. pic.twitter.com/n29sDaOnnZ

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 29, 2020

Until now, India has only won one bronze medal (in 2014) at the Chess Olympiad, and this will be the first time a gold medal or a silver medal will be coming home after the FIDE Online Olympiad finals.

Team India had lost the first round 2-4, but then Humpy bounced back in the second with a 4.5-1.5 win.

Former Chess world champion Viswanathan Anand also won against Jan-Krzystof Duda in the second round after losing in the first round.

However, Young prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who was earlier in the news for defeating China, lost to Igor Janik.

In the Chess Olympiad quarterfinals that were held on August 28, India had beaten Armenia. This is the first time the Chess Olympiad is being held online due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.