Serbia’s men reach the top ten: 3½:½ over Kazakhstan, women draw 2:2 with Cuba

A convincing win for Serbia’s men and another draw for the women. In round seven of the Samarkand Olympiad on September 23, Serbia beat Kazakhstan 3½:½ in the Open and drew 2:2 with Cuba in the Women’s section.

Alexey Sarana, Aleksandar Inđić and Alexandr Predke won, while Velimir Ivić drew. Teodora Injac and Sofia Pogorelskih won for the women; Alina Bivol and Jovana Srdanović lost. The men now have 11 match points, the women 10.

Open: three wins take Serbia back into the top ten

After drawing with Sweden and taking a day off, Ivan Ivanišević’s team returned to winning ways. Kazakhstan entered this match level with Serbia on match points, and its top three players each had 4/5. Serbia won on all three of those boards today.

Sarana beat Denis Makhnev with White, as did Predke against Daniyal Sapenov. Between them on board two, Inđić defeated Sauat Nurgaliyev with Black. Ivić’s draw against Aldiyar Ansat completed a match without a Serbian defeat. Bojan Maksimović rested.

Sarana’s game is worth another look: late in the game, White’s pawn reaches f6 while the queen and knight create threats around the black king. The score ends with 46.Ne5. Inđić won a rook endgame, while Predke’s game ended after 50.Rxc6. Ivić and Ansat played 76 moves, the longest of Serbia’s eight games in this round.

Results in board order, White listed first:

• Board 1: Alexey Sarana - Denis Makhnev 1:0. Game
• Board 2: Sauat Nurgaliyev - Aleksandar Inđić 0:1. Game
• Board 3: Alexandr Predke - Daniyal Sapenov 1:0. Game
• Board 4: Aldiyar Ansat - Velimir Ivić ½:½. Game

Official match results, Open match 9 · All four games in the broadcast

Women: four decisive games, but a drawn match

Not one board was drawn against Cuba. Teodora Injac beat Yerisbel Miranda Llanes with White, while Sofia Pogorelskih defeated Roxangel Obregon Garcia with Black. Cuba replied through Yaniela Forgas Moreno’s win over Alina Bivol and Ineymig Hernandez Gil’s victory against Jovana Srdanović. Elif Mehmed rested.

Teodora’s game ended after 36.Rf8+, while Sofia earned her point in a rook endgame. The other two games ran considerably longer: Alina’s ended on move 64, Jovana’s on move 71. Hernandez Gil continued her strong event, reaching 6/7.

Following the 2:2 result against Türkiye, this is Serbia’s second consecutive drawn match in the Women’s section. With a rating advantage on all four boards, Serbia will regret missing out on a match win, but Injac and Pogorelskih supplied the two points needed to share the match points.

Results in board order, White listed first:

• Board 1: Teodora Injac - Yerisbel Miranda Llanes 1:0. Game
• Board 2: Yaniela Forgas Moreno - Alina Bivol 1:0. Game
• Board 3: Jovana Srdanović - Ineymig Hernandez Gil 0:1. Game
• Board 4: Roxangel Obregon Garcia - Sofia Pogorelskih 0:1. Game

Official match results, Women’s match 10 · All four games in the broadcast

Serbia after seven rounds

The men are tenth with 11 match points: five wins, one draw and one loss, with 18½/28 board points. That is a climb from 21st at the rest day. Uzbekistan leads on 14 match points, while the teams in second through sixth each have 12. Serbia is therefore just one match point behind that group. Open standings after seven rounds

The women are 18th with 10 match points: four wins, two draws and one loss, with 19/28 board points. China and Kazakhstan lead on 13 each. Four rounds remain in the Olympiad. Women’s standings after seven rounds

Replay all eight games on the boards below, with the four Open games followed by the four women’s games. For a comparison with the position before play resumed, see our rest-day special.