Indian chess team on cusp of history after beating USA
Both the Indian chess teams find themselves on the cusp of history-making gold medals in the open section and the women’s sections at the Chess Olympiad, the most prestigious team event in chess for national teams. Heading into Sunday’s final round of matches, both Indian teams are on top of the Olympiad standings, with the team in the open section defeating USA on Saturday, the top seeds heading into the tournament but who have been shaky heading into the home stretch. For India, Gukesh took down World No 2 Fabiano Caruana while Arjun Erigaisi defeated Leinier Dominguez Perez after another long marathon game to offset Praggnanandhaa’s loss to Wesley So. Vidit Gujrathi played out a draw against Levon Aronian. The Indian women’s team, who was in second place in Chess Olympiad standings coming into the 10th round, defeated a depleted version of China, which was missing all their top players like Tan Zhongyi, Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie, who have been women’s world champions or contenders for the women’s world champion’s crown. While …