Tania puts Indian eves back in contention for medal
Former Asian queen Tania Sachdev continued with her dream run as Indian eves roared back to medal contention with an easy 2.5-1.5 win over Vietnam in the eighth round of the Chess Olympiad here.
Tania scored her seventh victory in eight games, which currently stands among the best performances in the Olympiad. The Delhiite worked hard with back-to-back training camps before coming to Istanbul and the result seems a just reward.
Thanks to another win, the Indian women now find themselves within striking distance of a medal.
The eves jumped to joint second spot after China defeated Poland 3-1 on the top board and reached 14 points out of a possible 16.
Indian team is sharing the second spot with Russia, France and Uzbekistan on 13 points each and a big test awaits the ladies when they meet second seed Russia in the next round.
The Indians lost to China, played out a lone draw to Serbia besides winning six matches so far.
On the top board, D Harika managed to draw with Pham Le Thao Nguyen after surviving a difficult position. On the second board, the form of Eesha Karavade remained a cause for concern for the Indians as she lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.
Tania delivered the goods on the third board as black against Le Kieu Thien Kim, while national women’s champion Mary Ann Gomes chipped in by beating Pham Bich Ngoc on the fourth board to complete an Indian victory.
With just three more rounds to go, the Indians would be hoping for a decent result against Russia before they can put in their best effort in the last two rounds.
Important results (round eight): Men: Russia (15) bt Ukraine (12) 2.5-1.5; China (13) drew Azerbaijan (12) 2-2; Armenia (3) bt Uzbekistan (11) 2.5-1.5; Macedonia (11) lt to USA (13) 1-3; Germany (13) bt Hungary (11) 2.5-1.5; England (11) lt to Philippines (13) 1-3; France (12) bt Cuba (10) 2.5-1.5; India (11) drew Serbia (11) 2-2 ( K Sasikiran lost to Ivan Ivanisevic; Milos Perunovic drew P Harikrishna; Parimarjan Negi drew Nikola Sedlak; Dusan Popovic lost to G N Gopal); Spain (10) lost to Israel (12) 0.5-3.5; Latvia (10) lost to Netherlands (12) 1-3; Romania (10) lost to Argentina (12) 1-3; Croatia (10) lost to Poland (12) 1.5-2.5.
Women: Poland (12) lost to China (14) 1-3; Russia (13) drew Ukraine (11) 2-2; France (13) bt Spain (11) 3-1; Uzbekistan (13) bt Hungary (11) 2.5-1.5; Vietnam (11) lt to India (13) 1.5-2.5 (Pham Le Thao Nguyen drew D Harika; Eesha Karavade lt to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung; Le Kieu Thien Kim lt to Tania Sachdev; Mary Ann Gomes bt Pham Bich Ngoc); Serbia (11) drew Georgia (11) 2-2; Philippines (10) lt to USA (12) 0.5-3.5; Armenia (12) bt Romania (10) 3-1; Bulgaria (12) bt Czech Republic (10) 2.5-1.5; Switzerland (10) lt to Kazakhstan (12) 1-3.
