Date:27/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/27/stories/2006052706651900.htm

Sport - Chess

India, China split points

Turin: Indian men's team, led by Viswanathan Anand, split points with China but Koneru Humpy inspired the women to a resounding 2.5-0.5 win over Turkey in the fifth round of the Chess Olympiad here.

The second seeded men's team was held to dull draws by the Chinese team, which had just one player with higher ELO ratings than the Indians.

Anand, P. Harikrishna and K. Sasikiran played out draws against China's Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong and Wang Yue respectively.

In the women's event, the Indian trio of Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and Swati Ghate played well to beat their opponents from Turkey.

Humpy — playing with white — had little trouble beating the lower rated Atalik-Polo but WGM Harika was held to a draw by Topel Zehra, while Swati proved way too good for Ozturk Kubr and played her usual game to take India to a comfortable win.

The results: Men: India drew with China 2-2; Russia drew with Armenia 2-2; Uzbekistan drew with Netherlands 2-2; Ukraine drew with Bulgaria 2-2; USA bt Georgia 1.5-2.5; Poland bt Italy `A' 2.5-1.5; Greece bt Aargentina 2.5-1.5.

Women: India bt Turkey 2.5-0.5; Ukraine bt Russia 2-1; Bulgaria drew with USA 1.5-1.5; Hungary bt China 2.5-0.5; Romania bt Estonia 1-2; Spain bt Lithuania 1-2; Mongolia bt Israel 0.5-2.5; Germany bt Italy `A' 1.5-1.5; Slovakia bt Vietnam 1-2; Armenia bt Greece 2-1. — UNI