Samarkand: After an indifferent start and getting back in recovery mode immediately, the second seeded Indian men will take on sixth seeded Holland in the fifth round of the 46th Chess Olympiad.
Having defeated Spain in the previous round, the Indian men's team featuring R Praggnanandhaa at the top board appears formidable.
The team is backed well by world champion D Gukesh and Nihal Sareen, who have both scored 3.5 points each from their four games. Vidit Gujrathi has done his bit on board five scoring 1.5/2, but concerns remain over the form of Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi.
Read more: India continues dominant Chess Olympiad run, secures fourth consecutive wins
Arjun started off with a loss but his previous round victory over Maksim Chigaev was impressive, while Praggnanandhaa is still looking for his first win having drawn all the three games so far.
The match against Holland is the biggest challenge yet as their top board Anish Giri is displaying a superlative form with four wins in as many games.
On the second board Jorden Van Foreest too has maintained a clean slate with three victories, and the Indians might target the last two boards instead of going all out against these two players.
Read more: Chess Olympiad: Indian men score a resounding 3-1 victory over Spain
So far, eight teams remain at the top with a perfect eight match points from four matches. The next match will see both teams fielding their four highest rated players.
Meanwhile, the Indian women have done well to be amongst ten leaders with a perfect score. In the next round, they will take on Poland and start as a huge favourite to win the match.
B Savitha Shri has been the star of the show so far, scoring 4/4, while Vantika Agrawal is not far behind on three points from as many games.
With the major chunk of scoring done by these two, the Indians have had nothing to worry about board three and four; however, against Poland, Savitha Shri has been rested as the top four Indians participate.
Men's pairings round 5 India (8) vs Holland (8): (R Praggnanandhaa vs Anish Giri; Arjun Erigaisi vs Jorden Van Foreest; Nihal Sarin vs Loek Van Wely; D Gukesh vs Erwin L'Ami).
Women's pairings round 5 India (8) vs Poland (8): (Koneru Humpy vs Oliwil Kiolbasa; R Vaishali vs Aleksandra Maltsevskaya; Divya Deshmukh vs Klaudia Kulon; Vantika Agrawal vs Monika Socko).
