India, Poland, Russia, U.S. In Saturday's Online Olympiad Semifinals
India, Poland, Russia, and the United States qualified for the FIDE Online Olympiad's semifinals that are played on Saturday. Armenia defaulted their second match with India after a conflict over a disconnect.
The games of the FIDE Online Olympiad can be found here as part of our live events platform. The playoffs are played August 27-30 with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV.
India-Poland
Round 1, 09:00 UTC = 2 a.m. Pacific / 11:00 Central Europe
Round 2, 10:00 UTC = 3 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 Central Europe
Round 1, 16:00 UTC = 9 a.m. Pacific / 18:00 Central Europe
Round 2, 17:00 UTC = 10 a.m. Pacific / 19:00 Central Europe
Armenia-India: 0-2 (2.5-9.5)
| Bo. | 1 | India | Rtg | 3½:2½ | 2 | Armenia | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 | ½ - ½ | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2778 |
| 1.2 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 | 1 - 0 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2693 |
| 1.3 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 | 0 - 1 | GM | Danielian, Elina | 2358 |
| 1.4 | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 | 1 - 0 | IM | Mkrtchian, Lilit | 2306 |
| 1.5 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2418 | 1 - 0 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2278 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Vantika, Agrawal | 1729 | 0 - 1 | WGM | Sargsyan, Anna M. | 2304 |
| Bo. | 2 | Armenia | Rtg | 0 : 6 | 1 | India | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2778 | - - + | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2751 |
| 1.2 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2693 | - - + | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2636 |
| 1.3 | GM | Danielian, Elina | 2358 | - - + | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2483 |
| 1.4 | IM | Mkrtchian, Lilit | 2306 | - - + | GM | Harika, Dronavalli | 2450 |
| 1.5 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2278 | - - + | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1781 |
| 1.6 | WGM | Sargsyan, Anna M. | 2304 | - - + | WIM | Vantika, Agrawal | 1729 |
The first match of the day sadly wasn't decided on the digital chessboards. After a conflict over a disconnection, Armenia declined to play the second match, which made India the first team to reach the semifinals.
What happened is that GM Haik Martirosyan lost his game with GM Nihal Sarin due to a disconnect in what was a drawn position. (Black needed to be a bit careful, though; in the final position he would have lost if he hadn't overprotected his e6-pawn.) With India scoring 3.5-2.5, this loss was a crucial one.
The game was declared lost for Armenia, who then protested that decision based on the fact that Martirosyan hadn't lost his connection to the Zoom call. Chess.com technicians immediately checked server logs and other information but could not find any issues.
Armenia's appeal was rejected by the appeals committee, formed by the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Michael Khodarkovsky, and Sava Stoisavljevic. The verdict (here in PDF) states that
"(...) the evidence of the site's guilt must be direct and prove the guilt beyond any doubt. No other reliable evidence of problems on the game server was presented to the Appeals Committee, in addition to the general conclusion provided by the Armenian team."
In other words, a continuously running Zoom connection doesn't provide enough proof that the reason for the disconnect was caused by the Chess.com server. The Lichess platform pointed this out as well on Twitter:
It seems like a good time to remind people that a functioning Zoom call or being able to load https://t.co/q4juMbNwSM does not mean you can connect to the rest of the internet, and does not prove that being unable to connect to a chess website is their fault.
— Lichess.org (@lichess) August 28, 2020
Not satisfied with this decision, Armenia then refused to play the second match, defaulted, and lost 6-0.
Azerbaijan-Poland* 1-1 (6.5-6.5)
| Bo. | 1 | Azerbaijan | Rtg | 2 : 4 | 2 | Poland | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2761 | 0 - 1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 |
| 1.2 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 2691 | 0 - 1 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2662 |
| 1.3 | IM | Mammadzada, Gunay | 2280 | ½ - ½ | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 |
| 1.4 | IM | Mammadova, Gulnar | 2400 | 0 - 1 | IM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 |
| 1.5 | GM | Asadli, Vugar | 2309 | ½ - ½ | IM | Gumularz, Szymon | 2277 |
| 1.6 | WGM | Balajayeva, Khanim | 2093 | 1 - 0 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 |
| Bo. | 2 | Poland | Rtg | 1½:4½ | 1 | Azerbaijan | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2774 | ½ - ½ | GM | Radjabov, Teimour | 2758 |
| 1.2 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 2662 | 0 - 1 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 2691 |
| 1.3 | GM | Socko, Monika | 2321 | 0 - 1 | IM | Mammadzada, Gunay | 2280 |
| 1.4 | IM | Cyfka, Karina | 2330 | 0 - 1 | WGM | Fataliyeva, Ulviyya | 2310 |
| 1.5 | IM | Gumularz, Szymon | 2277 | 0 - 1 | GM | Asadli, Vugar | 2309 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Sliwicka, Alicja | 2059 | 1 - 0 | WGM | Balajayeva, Khanim | 2093 |
More drama was seen in the Azerbaijan-Poland match, but this time on the chessboard. Both countries won one match, so an armageddon game was needed to break the tie. The random toss led to the game being played on the top women's board this time, where IM Gunay Mammadzada had just beaten GM Monika Socko.
In the armageddon game, Mammadzada was in full control all the time and very close to holding the draw as Black, but, despite having 13 seconds vs. eight for her opponent, she missed a knight check twice and then had her king stuck in a mating net.
Earlier USA had convincingly beaten Ukraine twice, but Azerbaijan-Poland went down the wire with an armageddon game on the women's board, and yes, it saw another dramatic finish with Poland getting through:#OnlineOlympiad pic.twitter.com/VYlNT5gams
— ChesscomNews (@ChesscomNews) August 28, 2020
Hungary-Russia 0-2 (4-8)
| Bo. | 1 | Russia | Rtg | 5 : 1 | 2 | Hungary | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 | 1 - 0 | GM | Erdos, Viktor | 2580 |
| 1.2 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | 2770 | ½ - ½ | GM | Gledura, Benjamin | 2619 |
| 1.3 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2502 | 1 - 0 | GM | Hoang, Thanh Trang | 2338 |
| 1.4 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2517 | 1 - 0 | IM | Gara, Anita | 2279 |
| 1.5 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2629 | ½ - ½ | GM | Kozak, Adam | 2438 |
| 1.6 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 | 1 - 0 | WFM | Gaal, Zsoka | 1816 |
| Bo. | 2 | Hungary | Rtg | 3 : 3 | 1 | Russia | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Banusz, Tamas | 2614 | 0 - 1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2778 |
| 1.2 | GM | Gledura, Benjamin | 2619 | ½ - ½ | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav | 2769 |
| 1.3 | WGM | Papp, Petra | 2297 | 1 - 0 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2521 |
| 1.4 | WGM | Gara, Ticia | 2274 | 1 - 0 | GM | Gunina, Valentina | 2427 |
| 1.5 | GM | Kozak, Adam | 2438 | ½ - ½ | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2618 |
| 1.6 | WFM | Demeter, Dorina | 1885 | 0 - 1 | WGM | Shuvalova, Polina | 2379 |
Russia started with a crushing 5-1 win vs. Hungary, but things got unexpectedly close in the return match. Hungary can be satisfied with their result, and leaving the tournament with a 3-3 against this team is something to be proud of.
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won a nice game in the first round. Although he was winning quite early in the game, he found some pretty moves to finish it.
Ukraine-U.S. 0-2 (3.5-8.5)
| Bo. | 1 | United States | Rtg | 4½:1½ | 2 | Ukraine | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | So, Wesley | 2741 | 1 - 0 | GM | Ivanchuk, Vasyl | 2686 |
| 1.2 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 | ½ - ½ | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2794 |
| 1.3 | IM | Yip, Carissa | 2421 | 1 - 0 | IM | Osmak, Iulija | 2356 |
| 1.4 | IM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 | ½ - ½ | GM | Zhukova, Natalia | 2312 |
| 1.5 | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 | ½ - ½ | GM | Shevchenko, Kirill | 2425 |
| 1.6 | IM | Wang, Annie | 2384 | 1 - 0 | FM | Berdnyk, Mariia | 2169 |
| Bo. | 2 | Ukraine | Rtg | 2 : 4 | 1 | United States | Rtg |
| 1.1 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2794 | 0 - 1 | GM | So, Wesley | 2741 |
| 1.2 | GM | Shtembuliak, Evgeny | 2444 | 0 - 1 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2609 |
| 1.3 | IM | Osmak, Iulija | 2356 | ½ - ½ | IM | Zatonskih, Anna | 2327 |
| 1.4 | IM | Gaponenko, Inna | 2375 | 1 - 0 | WGM | Abrahamyan, Tatev | 2358 |
| 1.5 | GM | Shevchenko, Kirill | 2425 | ½ - ½ | GM | Xiong, Jeffery | 2730 |
| 1.6 | WIM | Shpanko, Nadiia | 2069 | 0 - 1 | IM | Wang, Annie | 2384 |
It was the U.S. that scored the most convincing victory, with 4.5-1.5 and 4-2 scores against Ukraine. From the first match, let's look at the highly interesting draw between GMs Anton Korobov and Sam Shankland.
Quarterfinals round | All games
The FIDE Online Olympiad is a major online chess event for national teams that runs July 25-August 30 on the Chess.com server. More than 1,500 participants and 163 teams from all over the world are playing.
Each team consists of six players, including at least two women, at least one player who is 20 or younger, and at least one female player who is 20 or younger. The time control for all matches is 15 minutes for the game and a five-second increment per move, starting from move one.
Related articles:
- FIDE Online Chess Olympiad (info article)
- FIDE Online Olympiad Launches July 25 On Chess.com
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Base Division's Results
- Hong Kong, Angola Perfect, Eid Brilliant In Olympiad Division 4
- GM Zaibi Plays Brilliant Checkmate In Olympiad Division 3
- Shirov On Fire As Online Olympiad Gets Set For Top Division
- Azerbaijan, India, Russia, U.S. Pool Leaders At Online Olympiad
- Crunch Time For Online Olympiad's Top Division
- FIDE Online Olympiad: Who Made It To The Playoffs?
- Armenia, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine Enter Friday's Online Olympiad Quarterfinals
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.
As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!
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