History repeated itself at the Chess Olympiad on Sunday.

Poland defeated the top-seeded India in the women’s event 2.5-1.5 at Samarkand; it was the exact scoreline in Budapest two years ago. That loss had come in the eighth round. India, however, bounced strongly back to win the title. This time around, it happened in the fifth round, and the defeat is indeed a setback to the defending champion.

After the games involving Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal were all drawn, the fate of the match rested on the second-board clash between R. Vaishali and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya. The Chennai Grandmaster, with black pieces, was three pawns down when she resigned on the 57th move.

Vaishali’s younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa, however, scored an important win for India in the open section. He defeated Anish Giri, as the reigning champion won the match against the Netherlands 3-1.

D. Gukesh also won, while there were draws for Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin. The open event also saw Germany pull off a shocking 2.5-1.5 win over top-seeded United States.

Important results (fifth round): Open: India bt Netherlands 3-1 (R. Praggnanandhaa bt Anish Giri; Arjun Erigaisi drew with Jorden van Foreest; Nihal Sarin drew with Loek van Wely; D. Gukesh bt Erwin L’Ami); Uzbekistan bt Hungary 4-0; Germany bt USA 2.5-1.5; Armenia drew with China 2-2; France bt Czechia 2.5-1.5; England bt Georgia 2.5-1.5; Iran bt Lithuania 3-1; Ukraine bt Montenegro 3.5-0.5; Turkiye bt Latvia 3.5-0.5; Serbia bt Cuba 3-1; Poland bt Vietnam 2.5-1.5.

Women: Poland bt India 2.5-1.5 (Koneru Humpy drew with Oliwia Kiolbasa; R. Vaishali lost to Aleksandra Maltsevskaya; Divya Deshmukh drew with Klaudia Kulon, Vantika Agrawal drew with Socko Monika); USA drew with Uzbekistan 2-2; Kazakhstan bt Germany 2.5-1.5; China bt Bulgaria 3-1; Azerbaijan bt Serbia 3-1; Netherlands drew with Switzerland 2-2; Georgia bt Indonesia 2.5-1.5; Ukraine bt Austria 2.5-1.5; France bt Slovakia 3-1; Mongolia bt Croatia 2.5-1.5; Armenia bt Peru 3-1; Hungary bt Brazil 3-1.

At the Global Chess League, the margin for error can be thin. So thin, it doesn’t exist.

M. Pranesh and Abhimanyu Mishra found that out in excruciating fashion at the Lalit Ashok on Tuesday.

Pranesh was in a completely winning position against Nihal Sarin, but he overlooked a simple checkmate and lost. Pranesh, however, had the consolation that his team, Cheq Mumba Masters, won the match against Fyers American Gambits 11-6.

Abhimanyu’s misfortune against Leon Mendonca proved costly, though. His team, PBG Alaskan Knights, lost to Ganges Grandmasters, 8-12. Abhimanyu was placed for a win in his game that would have given his team a match victory. However, when he promoted his pawn, in the time scramble, he put the queen on the wrong square after the capture.

Mendonca claimed it was an illegal move and the arbiter reset the clock, which left Abhimanyu to replay the capture and queening in one second. That wasn’t humanly possible. So, he lost on time, as did his team.

The day’s other matches weren’t as dramatic, though there was plenty of excitement.

Four on top

At the end of it all, as many as four teams shared the top spot. At the half-way mark, defending champion Alpine APL Pipers — despite a 4-10 loss to Kings — Mumba, Grandmasters and Gambits have all nine match points each.

Pipers and Mumba are tied on games points, too – 47 each. Ganges is on 47 and Gambits, which has played a match more, on 52.

The results: Ganges Grandmasters bt PBG Alaskan Knights 12-8 (Ian Nepomniachtchi bt Viswanathan Anand; Levon Aronian lost to Arjun Erigaisi; Leinier Dominguez bt Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus; Polina Shuvalova bt Kateryna Lagno; Stavroula Tsolakidou lost to Nino Batsiashvili; Leon Mendonca bt Abhimanyu Mishra).

Fyers American Gambits lost to Cheq Mumba Masters 6-11 (Javokhir Sindarov drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Nihal Sarin bt M. Pranesh; Daniil Dubov lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with D. Harika; Sarasadat Khademalsharieh lost to Carissa Yip; MarcAndria Maurizzi drew with Bardiya Daneshvar).

Triveni Continental Kings bt Alpine APL Pipers 10-4 (Alireza Firouzja drew with Magnus Carlsen; Wei Yi drew with Anish Giri; Aravindh Chithambaram bt Vidit Gujrathi; Zhu Jiner drew with Divya Deshmukh; Alexandra Kosteniuk drew with Koneru Humpy; V. Pranav bt Volodar Murzin).

Alaskan Knights lost to American Gambits 9-12 (Anand lost to Sindarov; Arjun lost to Nihal; Erdogmus bt Dubov; Lagno bt Assaubayeva; Batsiashvili bt Sarasadat; Abhimanyu lost to Maurizzi).

American Grandmaster Hans Niemann is known more for controversies than his exploits on the board.

He was involved in a public feud with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen over the cheating allegations levelled against him by the Norwegian. Despite his achievements and avowed ambition to become the best player on the planet, his straight-talking seems to put him in a spot more often than not.

After the end of the Chennai Grand Masters here, the 23-year-old took a dig at reigning World champion D. Gukesh and his predecessor Ding Liren, saying that they had never been the best players in spite of winning the game’s top prize.

“The main reason we’ve seen Ding and Gukesh do poorly is that they were never the best players in the world. Not even close to it,” Niemann said on Wednesday.

He also criticised the World Championship format with “limited number of games” and said that it does not necessarily identify the strongest player over a sustained period. Despite that, Niemann felt Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov was a deserving challenger for the title.

As for the match itself, he opined that Gukesh — whose confidence has been dented by a succession of poor results — could return to form with a bright start.

“If he starts well, regains his confidence and takes control, his prime form could return. But if he starts poorly, it is just going to be a reminder of all the bad results. In one match of 14 games, anything can happen.”

A draw was enough for Alireza Firouzja in the seventh and final round of the Chennai Grand Masters on Wednesday as the Frenchman walked away with the title in a strong field.

Firouzja’s 41-move stalemate also ended his opponent Arjun Erigaisi’s chances of fighting for first place. The loss suffered by Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the hands of Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) cleared the path for Firouzja as the 23-year-old emerged champion with 4.5 points.

Andreikin proved to be the surprise packet, taking the runner-up spot with four points after remaining unbeaten (six draws and one win).

Firouzja, who didn’t lose a game through the week, received ₹25 lakh for his title-winning effort while Arjun took the third spot, followed by Abdusattorov and M. Pranesh. World champion D. Gukesh held Hans Niemann to a draw and finished with the wooden spoon (two points).

He narrowly avoided slipping out of the 2700-club, thanks to the stalemate against his American opponent; the 20-year-old, who had lost his previous two games, settled for a quick draw as the contest ended in 19 moves.

Nihal Sarin, who began with four straight draws, appeared to lose steam towards the business end and wound up with 3.5 points despite a well-crafted win against Arjun in the penultimate round. The fifth-place finish was a creditable performance by Pranesh, the lowest-rated player in the event who handed Gukesh a shock defeat.

The results: D. Gukesh 2 drew with Hans Niemann (USA) 3; Nihal Sarin 3.5 drew with M. Pranesh 3.5; Alireza Firouzja (Fra) 4.5 drew with Arjun Erigaisi 4; Dmitry Andreikin (Rus) 4 beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 3.5.

Final placings: 1. Firouzja, 2. Andreikin, 3. Arjun, 4. Abdusattorov, 5. Pranesh, 6. Nihal, 7. Niemann, 8. Gukesh.