Sport - Chess

India posts comprehensive wins in both sections

NEW DELHI: Grandmasters K. Sasikiran and G.N. Gopal scored contrasting victories as India tamed Sweden 3-1 in the open section while a fortuitous Tania Sachdev and a focussed Mary Ann Gomes joined hands to complete a similar victory over the Latvian ladies on a fruitful second day of the Chess Olympiad at Dresden, Germany, on Friday.

Following its second successive victory, India was among the 20 leaders in the Open section and 14 in the ladies section. In the next round,

Indian women play favourite Russia and the men face El Salvador, seeded 91.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew following a disappointing repetition of moves after 32 turns. Fellow Kolkata-GM Sandipan Chanda reached a similar result after 41 moves.

Thereafter, it was left to Sasikiran and Gopal to set up India’s victory margin.

Gopal benefited hugely from Tiger Hillarp Persson’s decision to trade his queen for a rook, bishop and knight. Gopal managed to trap his rival’s bishop to loosen his rival’s grip. Thereafter, Persson allowed Gopal’s queen and bishop to combine and suffered a rather sudden loss.

Sasikiran had to dig deeper with black pieces to win against Emanuel Berg. Sasikiran gained the advantage late into the middle game and enlarged his two-pawn advantage to score a crucial point.

Among the Indian ladies, World junior champion D. Harika disappointed when she quickly drew by repetition of moves against a rival rated 202 points below. Swati Ghate fought for 40 moves before settling for draw.

Two-time Asian junior girls champion Mary was patience personified as she pulled off a laboured 72-move victory over Viktorija Ni, rated 130 points below. Asian women’s champion Tania, down a pawn for most part of the game against Ilze Berzina, cashed in on a late blunder from her rival and won in 69 moves.

The day’s surprise results came when Greece held last edition’s bronze medallist USA 2-2 and Lithuania proved equal to 18th seed Czech Republic in the open section.

The results:

Open: Sweden (3.5) lost to India (5.5) 1-3 (Emanuel Berg lost to K. Sasikiran; Evgenij Agrest drew with Suyra Shekhar Ganguly; Tiger Hillarp Persson lost to G.N. Gopal; Slavko Cicak drew with Sandipan Chanda); Poland (5.5) lost to Russia (5) 1.5-2.5; Ukraine (5) bt Serbia (4) 2.5-.1.5; Belarus (4) lost to China (5.5) 1-3; Azerbaijan (7) bt Slovakia (4.5) 3-1; USA (4.5) drew with Greece (6) 2-2; Spain (6) bt Bosnia & Herzegovina (5); Romania (6) bt Argentina (4) 2.5-1.5; Denmark (4) lost to England (5.5) 1-3.

Ladies: Latvia (4.5) lost to India (5.5) 1-3 (Laura Rogule drew with D. Harika; Ilze Berzina lost to Tania Sachdev; Katrina Skinke drew with Swati Ghate; Ni Viktorija lost to Mary Ann Gomes); Slovenia (4.5) lost to Russia (7); Slovakia (4) lost to China (6.5); Georgia (5) bt Romania (4.5) 2.5-1.5; Netherlands (5.5) bt France (4.5); Armenia (6) bt Czech Republic (5); Israel (6) bt USA (4.5) 2.5-1.5; Hungary (7) bt Spain (4) 3.5-0.5; Vietnam (4.5) lost to Poland (6) 1-3; Serbia (5) bt Cuba (5) 2.5-1.5.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu