Follow the final results of the national chess teams at the Olympics in Chennai, India
Our partners from the Romanian Chess Federation sent the best men’s and women’s teams to represent Romania at the Chess Olympiad, held this year in Chennai, India. After an extraordinary start for both teams and several victories against world chess titans, the men’s team formed by Bogdan Deac, Constantin Lupulescu, Mircea Parligras, David Gavrilescu and Vlad-Cristian Jianu and the women’s team formed by Mihaela Sandu, Alessia Ciolacu , Luminița Cosma and Miruna-Daria Lehaci faced several challenges in the second half of the competition.
Round 7
The one-day break was in favor of all teams. Grandmasters once again analyzed their opponents and carefully chose their tactics for the next matches. The 7th round was excellent for the Romanian men’s team. The boys defeated Paraguay by a final score of 3.5-0.5, marking another win in the overall standings.
Luck was not on the side of our athletes, the Romanian women’s chess representative lost narrowly to Georgia (2.5-1.5), one of the favorites of this edition of the Olympics. After 6 consecutive rounds without defeat, Romania loses following the victory of Leila Javakhishvili in front of Alessia Ciolacu.
Round 8
Round number 8 was quite tight for both representatives. The boys’ team drew against the champions from Chile (2-2) after 4 matches ended in a tie. The girls’ match played against the team from Azerbaijan had the same fate, the final score being still 2-2 after Irina Bulmaga and Elena-Luminița Cosma achieved 2 victories for Romania.
Round 9
Round 9 brought a smile to the faces of the Romanian chess players. The boys’ team managed to prevail with a score of 3-1 against the team from the Republic of Moldova. In the case of girls, the situation was not as rosy. Irina Bulmaga was the only one who managed to score a victory against Armenia after defeating Alina Danieliean. The final score was 3-1 to Armenia, the girls suffering their second defeat in 9 rounds.
Round 10
Round number 10 was a nightmare for the Romanian representatives. Both teams suffered a narrow 2.5-1.5 defeat against two strong competitors. The boys team took on Belgium, while our girls battled to a draw against Croatia.
Round 11
Both teams ended the competition with a memorable victory in the final round. In the Open, the boys prevailed against the Sri Lankan national team with a final score of 3-1. The Romanian women’s team did not let themselves down and achieved a victory against a strong opponent. The girls defeated the South Americans from Chile with the final score of 2.5-1.5 and ticked off victory number 6 of this edition.
The Olympics in Chennai was a challenge for the representatives of Romania. A competition full of surprises for world chess fans and supporters of our national teams. Both the girls and the boys had an excellent performance at this edition, achieving one of Romania’s greatest performances in an Olympiad.
At the end of 11 rounds, the boys have accumulated 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, achieving 44th place in the overall standings.
For a short time, the girls’ team was positioned in the first places of the ranking, but the final result of 6 wins, two draws and 3 defeats sent them to the 23rd place of the ranking.
