Chess Olympiad, Round 5: Poland prove to be Indian women’s Achilles heel again

The Chess Olympiad, a grueling 11-round Swiss system, proved once again that underestimating opponents can be costly. For India, the painpoint has been Poland who have consistently proven to be the team's Achilles heel, defeating them in both 2022 and 2024 editions. On Sunday, Poland repeated their role as the thorn in India's side, leaving the reigning champions defeated for the first time in this tournament at Samarkand. The Indian women's team faltered, dropping two crucial points to Poland.

Poland's strategy was shrewd, using their most experienced player Grandmaster Monika Socko on the last board. India, captained by Swayams Mishra, countered by bringing in the young and inexperienced Vantika Agrawal to face Socko. The 19-year-old, making her Olympiad debut, was dropped for the Poland clash, but her experience proved valuable. Vantika held Socko to a draw, securing a half point from the match. However, India lost other crucial games.

Vaishali couldn't maintain pressure against Socko's experienced Indian counterpart on Board 2. On the top board, Kiolbasa, who had a perfect score of 9.0/9 at the Chennai Olympiad, was too solid for Humpy. Both games ended in a 3-fold repetition, with no result. The other game, between Divya Deshmukh and Klaudia Kulon, ended in a draw, leaving Vaishali to play only for a win. However, Maltsevskaya ensured there wasn't much Vaishali could do in the endgame, and India lost with a 2.5-1.5 score.