Victory over Cuba, defeat to Azerbaijan: Serbia after round five

Serbia’s Open team returned to winning ways, while the women suffered their first match defeat. In round five of the Olympiad, played on September 20, Serbia beat Cuba 3:1 in the Open and lost 1:3 to Azerbaijan in the Women’s section.

Both Serbian teams have four wins, one loss and eight match points after five rounds. The Open team has 13/20 board points, and the women 15/20.

Open: Predke and Maksimović deliver the win

A day after losing to China, Serbia responded with an unbeaten match. Alexandr Predke and Bojan Maksimović won with White, while Aleksandar Inđić and Velimir Ivić drew with Black. Alexey Sarana rested, leaving Inđić on board one.

Results in board order, White first:

• Board 1: Jorge Roberto Elias Reyes - Aleksandar Inđić ½-½. Replay
• Board 2: Alexandr Predke - Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason 1-0. Replay
• Board 3: Lelys Stanley Martinez Duany - Velimir Ivić ½-½. Replay
• Board 4: Bojan Maksimović - Ermes Espinosa Veloz 1-0. Replay

Official results, match 12 · All games: Cuba - Serbia

Both wins are worth replaying. Predke - Berdayes Ason ended after 42.Rhe7+, with both white rooks on the seventh rank. In Maksimović - Espinosa Veloz, White advanced his h-pawn to h7 and removed Black’s passed pawn with the final move, 59.Rxg3. Two different finishes supplied the points that decided the match.

Women: Azerbaijan ends the winning run

Four match wins were followed by a first defeat. Teodora Injac and Alina Bivol drew on the top two boards, while Elif Mehmed and Jovana Srdanović lost to Gunay Mammadzada and Khanim Balajayeva. Sofija Pogorelskih sat out the round.

Elif dropped her first point of the tournament: after four consecutive wins, she now has 4/5. These were also Serbia’s first individual losses, but four match wins in five rounds remain a solid platform for the rest of the event.

• Board 1: Ulviyya Fataliyeva - Teodora Injac ½-½. Replay
• Board 2: Alina Bivol - Govhar Beydullayeva ½-½. Replay
• Board 3: Gunay Mammadzada - Elif Mehmed 1-0. Replay
• Board 4: Jovana Srdanović - Khanim Balajayeva 0-1. Replay

Official results, match 5 · All games: Azerbaijan - Serbia

Sweden and Türkiye next

Round six, on September 21, brings Sweden for the Open team and Türkiye for the women. Find the line-ups, colours, brief introductions to the opponents and direct game links in our round-six preview.

Replay all eight games

Below are the complete games from the Lichess broadcasts: first the four from Cuba - Serbia, then the four from Azerbaijan - Serbia, in the board order listed above.