Chess Olympiad-2022: Ukrainian national team wins tournament in India

The women's national team of Ukraine won the 2022 Chess Olympiad, held in Chennai, India

Suspilne reports.

The tournament was held for the first time in four years: at the previous Olympiad in 2018, Ukrainian women took second place, losing only to the Chinese team.

The Ukrainian team was represented by Maria and Anna Muzychuk, Anna Ushenina, Natalia Buksa, and Yulia Osmak.

Throughout the tournament, Ukraine's women's national team was among the leaders of the tournament table. The Ukrainian women won all four starting confrontations, losing points for the first time only in the fifth round with Azerbaijan—a draw.

Ukraine approached the final 11th round without losing a single match. With all the competitors—Georgia, Azerbaijan, and India—the Ukrainian women played a draw while losing the victory in the confrontation with Romania.

In the final round, the Ukrainian women won a decisive victory over the Polish team with a score of 3:1. The winning games were played by Maria Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina, and the drawn games by Anna Muzychuk and Natalia Buksa.

The tournament leader, India, sensationally lost to the USA in the last round (1:3), which allowed Ukraine to take first place and win the title.

Ukraine and Georgia national teams scored 18 points each in the standings, but according to additional indicators, the leadership remained with the Ukrainian women.

It is worth noting that 162 women's national teams competed at the Olympiad. For Ukraine, it is the second women's gold in the Games in history after the 2006 triumph in Turin.

Initially, the 2022 Olympics were supposed to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the russian federation, the tournament was moved to India.

Tournament table

• Ukraine –18 points
• Georgia – 18
• USA – 17
• India – 17
• Kazakhstan – 17

What does gold mean for Ukraine?

• Ukraine's second "gold" at the Chess Olympiad in history. The Ukrainian women won their first victory back in 2006 when Anna Ushenina was part of the team.

In general, this is Ukraine's fourth title at the Chess Olympiad: in 2004 and 2010, men won gold.

• Ukraine finished the tournament undefeated: seven wins and four draws.
• Fifth consecutive top-3 ranking. The last time Ukrainian women did not finish on the podium was in 2010; since then, they have taken third place three times (in 2012, 2014, and 2016), as well as second in 2018.
• At the Men's Chess Olympiad, Ukraine took the final 31st place, scoring 14 points in 11 rounds.

To recap, earlier it was reported that the russian dvorkovich was re-elected to the post of president of the International Chess Federation.

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