Watch: Excellent Sportsmanship From Czech Republic as Players Refuse to Start Clock Despite Indian Women Team Arriving Late For Chess Olympiad
Last Updated:
Harika Dronavalli shakes hands with her opponent ahead of Chess Olympiad Round 2 match. (Screengrab)
In a heartwarming gesture, the Czech Republic team didn’t start the clock after Indian team’s arrival was delayed due to conveyance issues.
The Indian women chess team’s arrival for their second round match of the 45th Chess Olympiad against Czech Republic being held at the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre in Budapest (Hungary) was delayed due to transport issues. However, in a heartwarming gesture, their opponents refused to start the clock till their arrival.
As the Indian team comprising Tania Sachdev, Harika Dronavalli, Vantika Agrawal and Divya Deshmukh started arriving, the tournament officials prompted the Czech Republic players to start the clock which they politely declined and instead waited for them to settle down.
A video of the entire turn of events has been going viral on social media.
Due to conveyance issues, the Indian women team arrived late. After some of the team members arrived and the arbiter asked to start the clocks, the Czech Republic players decided not to start the clocks and wait for their opponents. This is true sportsmanship! pic.twitter.com/0GbbWlNcrl— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) September 12, 2024
The Indian women then went on to secure another 3.5-0.5 win over Czech Republic to make their presence felt. While it was Vantika Agrawal who gave away half a point in the first round, Tania Sachdev was the one settling for a draw in this round while the other three team-mates won at ease.
Harika and Vantika came up with expected victories against lower ranked Czech ladies but Tania Sachdev had to be satisfied with a half point on the last board. The Indian eves had no troubles on the remaining boards and took home 3.5 points for the second day running.
Divya defeated Natalie Kanakova to give India 1-0 lead while Tania drew with Martina Korenova. Vantika then got the better of Teresa Rodshtein and Harika defeated Julia Movsesian.
In the men’s section, Indian team got off to another 3-0 start, led by D Gukesh’s triumph over H Stefansson of Iceland.
With back-to-back victories, the Indian men had little to worry against Iceland which came up with a gritty performance before finally giving up. Harikrishna was the only Indian stretched as he had to work hard to carve out an elusive victory.
With PTI Inputs
