Serbia’s women beat Belarus as the Open team loses heavily to the USA

Serbia’s women returned to winning ways, while the Open team suffered its second defeat of the tournament. In round eight of the Samarkand Olympiad on 24 September, Serbia beat Belarus 2½:1½ in the Women’s section and lost ½:3½ to the USA in the Open.

Elif Mehmed and Sofia Pogorelskikh won for the women, Alina Bivol drew and Teodora Injac lost. Alexandr Predke’s draw against Levon Aronian was Serbia’s only half-point in the Open match. After eight rounds, the women have 12 match points, while the Open team remains on 11.

Open: Predke draws against the top seeds

The Americans justified their billing as favourites. Facing the tournament’s top seeds, who outrated Serbia on all four boards, Alexey Sarana lost to Fabiano Caruana, Aleksandar Inđić to Hans Moke Niemann and Velimir Ivić to Awonder Liang. Predke held Aronian with Black. Bojan Maksimović rested.

Caruana’s game against Sarana featured a striking tactical sequence: 24.Rxg7+, followed by 25.Bf5, with White subsequently taking Black’s queen amid extensive material exchanges. The game ended on move 43. It is worth replaying from the start, with opposite-side castling and an open g-file.

Inđić - Niemann also produced an unusual material balance: after the exchanges on moves 18 and 19, Black had no queen but extra pieces. Niemann won on move 42. Ivić’s game lasted 66 moves, ending with 66...a2 in a rook endgame. Predke and Aronian drew on move 41.

Results in board order, White first:

• Board 1: Fabiano Caruana - Alexey Sarana 1:0. Game
• Board 2: Aleksandar Inđić - Hans Moke Niemann 0:1. Game
• Board 3: Levon Aronian - Alexandr Predke ½:½. Game
• Board 4: Velimir Ivić - Awonder Liang 0:1. Game

Official results, Open match 4

Women: Elif and Sofia deliver two match points

After consecutive team draws against Turkiye and Cuba, Serbia secured an important win. Elif Mehmed beat Nika Venskaya with White, and Sofia Pogorelskikh defeated Yuliya Liavonava with Black. Alina Bivol drew with Black against Varvara Poliakova, while Teodora Injac lost with White to Aliaksandra Tarasenka. Jovana Srdanović rested.

Elif’s game lasted 97 moves, the longest of Serbia’s eight games in this round. Once the rooks came off on moves 82 and 83, she had a bishop and two pawns against a knight. The score ends with 97.Kf2. Returning to the line-up after resting in round seven, she earned the full point that, alongside Sofia’s win, helped Serbia reach 2½.

Sofia’s second consecutive win came in an opposite-coloured bishop ending. Her king reached f3, and her passed pawns stood on b3 and g3 when the game ended after 52...g3. Alina’s draw was recorded on move 30, while Teodora’s game lasted 76 moves, much of it a queen ending.

Results in board order, White first:

• Board 1: Teodora Injac - Aliaksandra Tarasenka 0:1. Game
• Board 2: Varvara Poliakova - Alina Bivol ½:½. Game
• Board 3: Elif Mehmed - Nika Venskaya 1:0. Game
• Board 4: Yuliya Liavonava - Sofia Pogorelskikh 0:1. Game

Official results, Women match 11

Serbia after eight rounds

The women climbed from 18th to 12th, with 12 match points and 21½/32 board points. Their record is five wins, two draws and one loss. China leads on 15 match points, followed by Kazakhstan, Armenia and Mongolia on 14. Women’s standings after eight rounds

The Open team dropped from 10th to 29th, with 11 match points and 19/32 board points: five wins, one draw and two losses. Uzbekistan and Germany lead on 14 match points, with eight teams behind them on 13. There are three rounds left. Open standings after eight rounds

Replay all eight games on the boards below, starting with the four Open games, followed by the Women’s match. Earlier results and games are in our round-seven report.