In the seventh round of the Chess Olympiad, the Indian women’s team defeated the formidable Georgian team, advancing them closer to the gold medal.
India is the lone team with 14 points after seven rounds, exactly like the Indian team in the open section. With their win on Wednesday, Poland, Kazakhstan, and France—who are tied for second in the rankings if match points are taken into account—now trail the Indian women’s team by two points.
Vantika Agrawal, an international master, was victorious over Bella Khotenashvilli in the seventh round, giving India the advantage over Georgia. At that point, the matches between Divya Deshmukh and Nino Batsiashvili and Harika Dronavalli and Nana had resulted in two draws. Later on in the Olympiad, Vaishali overcame Lela Javakhishvili to give India a convincing victory in the seventh round.
Georgia is a legendary chess powerhouse. In all, they have nine medals: two silver, three bronze, and four gold. However, it should be mentioned that they lost a close match against the winners of Ukraine and only won a silver medal in the 2022 Olympics. When the team won their gold in the 1990s, Nona Gaprindashvili, the famed coach, was still in charge. In the women’s division, they have also produced superstars like Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani.
Vantika Agrawal’s victory in round 7 of the Olympiad was noteworthy because it came at a cost—she had to win quickly, having to make a move on the 19th. With just seven minutes remaining, she needed to complete her next 21 moves—assuming she would receive a 30-second increment for each move—in 17 minutes. Vantika had just one minute remaining on the clock at the twenty-first move, while her opponent had twenty-five.