Chess: India’s teen talent shines as Chennai Olympiad breaks records

Armenia have a narrow lead over the top seeded US at halfway in the 180-nation, $10m Chennai Olympiad, an event which is already unique and in the record books. Its stunning ambiance, eager fans, and opulent playing conditions reflect India’s ambition to make August 2022 a landmark moment towards its goal of surpassing the three established chess superpowers, USA, Russia and China.

The state of Tamil Nadu and its chief minister, MK Stalin, approved a $10m budget which dwarfs any other chess event in history, Familiar name? The politician was born in 1953 and when Joseph Stalin died four days later the baby’s father decided what to call his son.

Besides more than 1700 players, the Olympiad has thousands of support staff, ranging from arbiters and live board technicians to anti-cheating friskers and medical personnel. Hundreds of children from all over India are being provided every day with free food, travel and accommodation to visit the Olympiad and to talk to the former world champion Vishy Anand. Chess is already a major Indian sport and with the stimulus from Chennai it could take off further, as it did in Russia in the 1930s.

Every game from both the open and women’s Olympiads is relayed to major chess websites. Play begins at 10.30am daily (five hours earlier for next Tuesday’s final round) and is free to watch on chess24.com with grandmaster commentaries and an evaluation bar which shows at a glance who is winning.

After six of the 11 rounds, leading scores were – Open: Armenia 12 match points (17.5 game points), United States 11(16), India 2 10 (19), Uzbekistan 10 (19), with England 14th on 9 (16.5). Women: India 12 (18.5), Azerbaijan 11 (18.5), Romania 11 (16.5), with England 34th on 8 (14).

Armenia v United