Chennai: Poland’s Woman International Master Oliwia Kiolbasa continued her winning ways at the 44th Chess Olympiad held at Mamallapuram, defeating India’s R. Vaishali and maintaining a perfect 9/9 score.
Playing on the third board, the 22-year-old Kiolbasa, with an ELO rating of 2,383, overcame her strong Indian rival Woman Grandmaster (WGM)Vaishali (2,442) in a marathon 82 moves threatening to queen two of her pawns.
This is Vaishali’s first defeat in the Olympiad.
In the process, fourth-seeded Poland defeated the top seeded India-1 Women’s team 2.5 – 1.5 with Koneru Humpy, D. Harika, and Tania Sachdev splitting points with Alina Kashlinskaya, Monika Socko and Maria Malicka, respectively.
Meanwhile in the Open section, India-2 team’s top board player GM D.Gukesh (2,684) drew his game against Azerbaijan’s GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2,759).
With this draw, Gukesh remains undefeated in the Olympiad, though his winning roll has been halted.
–IANS