Chess Olympiad: Armenia gives us lead to Uzbekistan 

ArmInfo.The battle for the medal was all the rage in the ninth round of the Olympiad, played this afternoon at the Sheraton Four Points Convention Center in  Mahabalipuram. No team is budging an inch, and the matches are fast  and furious, FIDE reports. 

Uzbekistan's young squad, led by teenager Abdusattorov and coached by  seasoned Dutch Grand Master Ivan Sokolov, compellingly defeated  leaders Armenia by a 3-1 score, with wins by Sindarov and Vakhidov on  the last two boards.

Vakhidov's feat is even more praiseworthy - he beat Robert  Hovhannisyan (undefeated to date) with the black pieces. With this  win, the Uzbekistan team is now the sole leader of the Olympiad  sitting on 16 points with two rounds to go. In addition, they are the  only undefeated team in the tournament - a huge surprise.

As if that were not enough, the Uzbeks were greatly favoured by the  other results of the round. Azerbaijan couldn't get past a 2-2 tie  against the India B juniors - Praggnanandhaa defeated Durarbayli on  board three but young gun Sadhwani fell to experienced grandmaster  Abasov on the fourth board.

India B and Armenia are now sharing second-third places with 15  points, trailing the leaders by just one point.

In the other key match of the day, the Netherlands and Iran also  shared the points in a match that ended with four draws, leaving both  teams with 14 points. The other teams didn't miss the opportunity to  keep their options open for the podium.

Despite Levon Aronian's unexpected defeat against Theodorou with  White, the United States beat Greece by the minimal 2.5-1.5 score, in  good measure due to Wesley So's key win - he is still undefeated.   Nonetheless, the hero of the day in the USA camp was Fabiano Caruana.

Alongside the Chess Olympiad, the International Chess Federation  General Assembly - and general elections - have taken place in  Chennai.

Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected today for a second term as FIDE  President with 157 votes, against 16 for his electoral opponent, the  Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Andrii Baryshpolets. The third candidate,  Bachar Kouatly from France, withdrew his candidacy before the voting  started.  Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was  part of Dvorkovich's ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President.

Round 10 will be played on August 8 at 3 pm sharp and can be followed  live on the tournament website.

For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at  https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open- results/.