The Indian chess team continued its winning run with facile victories in second and third rounds of Classical Chess at the second Asian Indoor Games.

The Indians have now won each of their three rounds and are on the path to yet another gold medal.
They will, however, have to contend with the Chinese who have also won three matches. But the Vietnamese, strong rivals, lost the second round to Qatar team.

Qatar in turn had dropped a point while drawing 2-2 with the Philippines in third round. India are, however, in danger of finding K Sasikiran out of the semis as he drew in both second and third round matches.

In contrast, Surya Sekhar Ganguly has won both matches after drawing his first round. Koneru Humpy and Dronvalli Harika have won all three games. Koneru Humpy beat Catherine Perena while Harika defeated Lomibao Sheerie Joy in the second round of matches.

In the third round India scored a facile 3.5-.5 win over Indonesia. The top four players in team events qualify for the semifinals in the race for individual medals, while the team gold is decided by team wins and if equal, then by points achieved during each win.

That means the India-China clash will become the crucial one.

Results (II round): India beat Philippines 3.5-0.5 (Sasikiran drew So Wesley; Banco Ronald lt to SS Ganguly; Koneru Humpy bt Catherine Perena; Lomibao Sheerie Joy lt to Harika).

Other results: China bt Iran 3.5-0.5; Qatar bt Vietnam 3-1; Indonesia bt MOngolia 3.5-0.5.

III round: India bt Indonesia 3.5-0.5 (Adianto drew Sasikiran; SS Ganguly bt Mergranto Susanto; Irine Khadisma lt to Koneru Humpy; Harika bt Lisa Karlina Lumongdong). Other results: China bt Kazhakstan 3.5-0.5; Vietnam bt Iraq 4-0; Iran bt Jordan 4-0; Qatar drew Philippines 2-2.