Top seeded India women, like their men counterparts, have also taken sole lead in the Olympiad in their section with six match wins in a row. But their streak has been less convincing. And there is a reason for it. The top-2 rated players in the men’s section (Gukesh and Arjun) have scored 10 wins without defeat.
The same has been done by the weakest three players among women – five wins by Divya Deshmukh, three by Vantika Agrawal and two by Tania Sachdev.
D Harika is not at her best on the top board in the tournament: losing two, winning two and drawing one. She is the only Indian player to have suffered defeat.
Unlike big architectural structures, the top players’ performance is the foundation of a good team. Hence, the women’s campaign is looking relatively shaky.
Thankfully, Pragg’s sister R Vaishali has been solid on the second board (three wins, two draws).
But India will need Harika’s experience and defensive resources if they are to beat Georgia (formerly part of the USSR and Soviet school of chess) in the seventh round on Wednesday.
India had beaten Georgia in the last Olympiad with R Vaishali scoring a full point on the third board. K Humpy had won on the top board against Nana Dzagnidze.
Humpy is absent this time and Nana is the top-rated woman player in this edition. With three draws in the preceding rounds, Nana’s faceoff against Harika would be interesting If Georgia manage to avenge the last edition’s defeat, the tournament will be thrown wide open.
The gold was there for the taking for India women in the last edition. But they fluffed the lines against USA in the last round and had to settle for the bronze, and that too only on numeric tiebreak. The fans are hoping that they will stay strong this time. The point is, if the Indian women cannot finish on top in the presence of second string China and absence of Russia, when will they?