Indian men, women start on a winning note

Batumi (Georgia), Sept 25 

The Indian men and women’s teams made winning starts to their campaign in the 43rd Chess Olympiad. 

The women’s team blanked New Zealand 4-0 with only Tania Sachdev facing some trouble while the trio of Koneru Humpy, Eesha Karavade and Padmini Rout recorded easy victories. 

On a day when Viswanathan Anand was rested, Krishnan Sasikiran dropped half-a-point on the fourth board but that was only after P Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi and B Adhiban had secured victories to ensure a win for the team. The Indian teams got two points following the victory as the day produced some individual upsets but the higher-ranked teams prevailed.

For the Indian men, Harikrishna routed Ernesto Giron in quick time and Adhiban had little trouble to win as white against Daniel Arias. Gujrathi showcased his skills at the expense of Ricardo Ernesto Chavez but Sasikiran faced some trouble and had to split the point with Carlos Burgos Figueroa. Sasikiran with black sacrificed a pawn to reach what looked like a promising endgame. — PTI

India results

• (First round): Open: India beat El Salvador 3.5-0.5 (P. Hari Krishna beat Jorge Ernesto Giron; Ricardo Ernesto Chavez lost to Vidit Gujarati; B Adhiban beat Daniel Arias; Carlos Burgos Figueroa drew with K. Sasikiran).
• (Women): India beat New Zealand 4-0 (Helen Milligan lost to Koneru Humpy; Tania Sachdev beat Vyanla Punsalan Tania Sachdev; Jasmir Haomo Zhang lost to Eesha Karavade; Padmini Rout beat Qin Nicole Shu Yu).