MAMALLAPURAM: Fabiano Caruana, World No. 5 and former World Championship Challenger, was having a torrid time against lower-rated players in the Chess Olympiad. But he helped the USA beat Iran – rivals in every sense – 2. 5-1. 5 as the other three games in their sixth-round match were drawn on Wednesday.
Regardless of how he does in the remainder of the 11-round event, Caruana, who scored his first win here in the fifth attempt, will be greeted with special warmth whenever he visits the White House.
Top seeds USA men, struggling at fifth place after five rounds, got their campaign back on track. It was their eighth win over Iran in the men’s Olympiad starting with 1958 and the previous being in 2004.
Chess being a largely internal game with no vocal involvement of spectators, the USA vs Iran battle lacked drama generally associated with a tense sporting contest.
Hashemi Amir Erfan, captain of Iran’s women Olympiad team, told TOI: “It was not like any other match. But we have no problem in playing a sporting contest against them. Sport, after all, is about the spirit of competition. We will play against the USA in the football World Cup later this year (Iran had beaten the USA in the 1998 World Cup). We have a problem playing Israel.”
The competitive layers in the USA vs Iran clash were apparent.
Iran showed aggression on the top board with Parham Maghsoodloo (Elo 2701) opting for a sharp Sicilian Najdorf despite knowing Caruana’s good strike rate against it. This despite…
Regardless of how he does in the remainder of the 11-round event, Caruana, who scored his first win here in the fifth attempt, will be greeted with special warmth whenever he visits the White House.
Top seeds USA men, struggling at fifth place after five rounds, got their campaign back on track. It was their eighth win over Iran in the men’s Olympiad starting with 1958 and the previous being in 2004.
Chess being a largely internal game with no vocal involvement of spectators, the USA vs Iran battle lacked drama generally associated with a tense sporting contest.
Hashemi Amir Erfan, captain of Iran’s women Olympiad team, told TOI: “It was not like any other match. But we have no problem in playing a sporting contest against them. Sport, after all, is about the spirit of competition. We will play against the USA in the football World Cup later this year (Iran had beaten the USA in the 1998 World Cup). We have a problem playing Israel.”
The competitive layers in the USA vs Iran clash were apparent.
Iran showed aggression on the top board with Parham Maghsoodloo (Elo 2701) opting for a sharp Sicilian Najdorf despite knowing Caruana’s good strike rate against it. This despite…
