Armenia defended its lead in the open section of the Chess Olympiad after drawing the favourites from the United States in round 7. The match was incredibly eventful, with Wesley So playing a brilliant sacrifice, Gabriel Sargissian upsetting Fabiano Caruana, and Sam Shankland losing after mistakenly touching his king. In the women’s section, India beat Azerbaijan to remain in the sole lead with a perfect score. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
It is getting more and more difficult for the top teams to beat their lower-rated opponents at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. In round 3, Norway and Germany, seeded third and ninth in the open section, were defeated by Italy and Austria respectively, while the eighth seeds from Ukraine could only get a draw against Cuba. In the women’s section, Mongolia beat the United States and Estonia took down Armenia. | Pictured: Daniele Vocaturo (Italy) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The Schara-Hennig Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?) is now over 100 years old. Recently the gambit has received more attention - also thanks to Magnus Carlsen's games against Sam Shankland and Le Quang this year. Our new author, GM Lucian Miron, takes a closer look at the pawn sacrifice in the latest ChessBase Magazine #208. "if you are tired of constantly being under pressure when White plays 1.d4 and only the main lines, go for the Schara-Hennig Gambit!" he concludes. Take a look!
Rating favourite Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu (pictured, on the left) won the Targu Mures Open, a tournament that is part of the Romanian Grand Prix, a series of strong open events in Romania. In round 1 Nisipeanu lost against WGM Mihaela Sandu but he recovered and finished sole first with 7.0/9, ahead of the 13-year old Ukrainian IM Ihor Samunenkov who was sole second with 6.5/9. Irina Bulmaga (pictured, on the right) won the women's prize and sent a report. | Photos: CS Juvenes | Facebook