Sport - Chess

Tania, Mary help India win

NEW DELHI: Asian champion Tania Sachdev and Asian junior girls’ champion Mary Ann Gomes scored timely victories to set up India’s 2.5-1.5 victory over Bulgaria in the seventh round of the Chess Olympiad at Dresden, Germany, on Thursday.

The narrow triumph kept India in the eighth place and earned a clash with 10th seeded Serbia in the eighth round.

Tania returned to her winning ways by outplaying Emilia Djingarova in 60 moves and completed India’s victory after Mary Ann Gomes put the team ahead at the expense of Elitsa Raeva on the fourth board.

Swati Ghate, however, suffered her first loss in the competition before the reigning World junior girls’ champion D. Harika held former Women’s World champion Antoaneta Stefanova in 54 moves.

In the open section, P. Hari Krishna defeat on the second board against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave cost India the match against seventh seed France.

In this encounter, where Indians played higher rated rivals on all the four boards, K. Sasikiran, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and G.N. Gopal pulled off creditable draws. India’s second defeat in the competition brought it down to the 15th spot.

Sasikiran proved equal to Etienne Bacrot in 24 moves. Against G.N. Gopal, Vladislav Tkachiev averted checkmate by resorting to perpetual checks in their 33-move battle. In a battle of ‘seconds’, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Laurent Fressinet settled for a 30-move draw.

In the recent World championship match in Bonn, Ganguly had assisted Viswanathan Anand while Fressinet was part of Vladimir Kramnik’s team of ‘seconds’.

The day’s biggest surprise came when top seed Russia crashed to a 2.5-1.5 defeat at the hands of defending champion and ninth seed Armenia. Gabriel Sargissian defeated Alexander Grischuk in 64 moves on the third board while the rest of games were drawn. Another upset came when 10th seed USA stopped fifth seed Hungary 2.5-1.5.

Among the ladies, seventh seed USA ended China’s winning streak by forcing a 2-2 draw while Poland drew with top seed Russia.

The results (seventh round):

Open: India (17.5) lost to France (19) 1.5-2.5 (K. Sasikiran drew with Etienne Bacrot; P. Hari Krishna lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew with Laurent Fressinet; G. N. Gopal drew with Vladislav Tkachiev); Armenia (20.5) bt Russia (17.5) 2.5-1.5; China (18) drew with Ukraine (16) 2-2; Israel (19) bt Spain (16.5) 3-1; USA (18) bt Hungary (17) 2.5-1.5; England (17) drew with Azerbaijan (18.5) 2-2; Greece (17.5) drew with Belarus (18) 2-2; Vietnam (20) bt Netherlands (17.5) 2.5-1.5; Bulgaria (21) bt Australia (15) 4-0; Poland (19.5) bt Mongolia (15.5) 3-1.

Ladies: Bulgaria (18) lost to India (17) 1.5-2.5 (Antoaneta Stefanova drew with D. Harika; Emilia Djingarova lost to Tania Sachdev; Margarita Voiska bt Swati Ghate; Elitsa Raeva lost to Mary Ann Gomes); China (20.5) drew with USA (20.5) 2-2; Russia (20) drew with Poland (17.5) 2-2; Netherlands (16.5) lost to Ukraine (20.5) 0.5-3.5; Hungary (20) bt Mongolia (15) 3-1; Serbia (18.5) bt Vietnam (17) 3.5-0.5; France (21) bt Kazakhstan (15.5) 3.5-0.5; Cuba (19.5) lost to Moldova (17) 1.5-2.5; Georgia (21.5) bt Spain (15) 4-0; Ecuador (17.5) bt England (17.5) 2.5-1.5.

Leading eighth-round pairings:

Open: Slovenia-India; France-Armenia; Israel-Germany; USA-Russia; China-Vietnam; Ukraine-New Zealand; Azerbaijan-Croatia; Bulgaria-Belarus; England-Georgia; Slovakia-Greece; Turkey-Poland.

Ladies: India-Serbia; Ukraine-China; USA-Russia; Poland; Moldova-Georgia; France-Uzbekistan; Romania-Netherlands; Slovenia-Ecuador; Azerbaijan-Armenia.

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