Chess Olympiad: Top seeds’ resistance begins to wane
Mamallapuram, August 1
The top two seeds in the open section of the Chess Olympiad — the USA and India A — were held to draws in the fourth round here today.
However, the No. 1 ranked team in the women’s event — India A — edged out Hungary 2.5-1.5 to maintain their winning streak.
While India A drew 2-2 with France, ranked 15th, the Americans had to share honours with Uzbekistan in the open event.
P Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan drew their respective games against Jules Moussard, Laurent Fressinet, Matthieu Cornette and Maxime Lagarde.
In a major upset, former World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana of the USA was stunned by Nodirbek Abdusattarov of Uzbekistan, as the country held the top seeds 2-2.
In the other results, fifth seed Poland was held by Romania to a draw (2-2) and the powerful Norway team, the third-seed, had to endure a 2-2 result against the 45th-ranked Mongolia.
Even as India A was held by France, there were mixed fortunes for the other two host teams with India B notching up a fourth straight win while India C went down 1.5-2.5 to fourth seed Spain.
Among the women, the top-ranked India A had to thank Tania Sachdev for providing the all-important point in a 2.5-1.5 victory over Hungary. Sachdev defeated talented teenager Zsoka Gaal after the three other games ended in stalemate. The 11th-seeded Indian women B edged past Estonia 2.5-1.5. — PTI
Live on DD, 3pm
