In a major setback for the sole overnight leaders in the Women's section India A were upset by fourth seed Poland 1.5-2.5. Vaishali R lost the only game to WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa, who incidentally scored a whopping 9/9 while the three other boards ended in hard-fought draws.

Humpy Koneru playing the black side of a QGD, showed good preparation and equalized early in the opening against Alina Kashlinskaya. Pieces were exchanged at regular intervals, and players decided to split a point in a dry rook ending just before the first time control.

Harika Dronavalli and Monika Socko fought in a Queen's Indian Defence, with the former grabbing the initiative from the start. Harika arranged her pieces in attacking formation to launch a real onslaught on the kingside but failed to find the winning continuation. Moreover, a hasty pawn move 25.f5 allowed Monika the trade the queens. Harika's attack fizzled out with the game ending in a draw after 41 moves.

Vaishali's good run ended against Oliwia Kiolbasa. Vaishali lost her way in a theoretically drawn rook endgame, and Oliwia notched up her ninth (!) straight victory.

India B whitewashed Switzerland 4-0, with Vantika Agrawal making her IM norm. India C also defeated Estonia 3-1. 

In one of the most important matches of Round 9, Georgia held second seed Ukraine to a 2-2 draw (the teams exchanged blows on boards 2 and 4), while Kazakhstan routed Bulgaria 3-1. 

With just two rounds to go, the race for medals is wide open, as four teams, namely Poland, Kazakhstan, India A and Georgia, are sharing first place. 

The complete results for round 9 can be found at the official website for the Olympiad, https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results.

Standings after round 9 can be found at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-standings

Photo: Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage