Indian men post third straight win

Grandmasters P Harikrishna and Abhijeet Gupta played in copy book style to give Indian men their third victory in a row in the 40th Chess Olympiad here on Thursday.

Harikrishna defeated former world championship candidate Alexander Beliavsky, while Gupta accounted for Malej Sebenik to ensure a 3-1 victory for the team while the other two games ended in draws.

For the third day running the Indian eves matched their male counterparts. Former Asian queen Tania Sachdev turned out to be the Indian ace here as she scored a much needed victory over Lilit Galojan, while three boards ended in truce.

Thanks to the third victory in as many matches, the Indian men and women find themselves on the top board in the fourth round in respective sections.

This is inspirational given the fact that both teams are without their best players — world champion Viswanathan Anand and Koneru Humpy.

For the record, it’s a 13-way lead in the open section and Indian men take on higher ranked United States in the next round.

The other leaders are, Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Germany, France, England, Philippines, Armenia, Ukraine, Poland and Hungary who all have an identical six match points from a possible three matches.

Important results, Round III (Open): Slovakia (5) drew with Bosnia & Herzegovina (5) 2-2; Venezuela (4) lt to USA (6) 0.5-3.5; Faroe Islands (4) lt to Azerbaijan (6) 0.5-3.5; France (6) bt Bulgaria (4) 2.5-1.5; England (6) bt Cuba (4) 3-1; Ukraine (6) bt Israel (4) 2.5-1.5; Armenia (6) bt Spain (4) 2.5-1.5; India (6) bt Slovenia (4) 3-1; Iran (4) lt to Germany (6) 0-4; Romania (4) lt to China (6) 1-3; Kazakhstan (4) lt to Philippines (6) 0-4; Russia (6) bt Latvia (4) 2.5-1.5; Hungary (6) bt Switzerland (4) 3-1; Poland (6) bt Chile (4) 3-1.

Women: China (5) drew with Ukraine (5) 2-2; Georgia (5) drew with Germany (5) 2-2; Poland (6) bt Hungary (4) 3.5-0.5; Austria (4) lt to France (6) 1-3; Serbia (6) bt Spain (4) 3.5-0.5; Slovenia (5) drew with Kazakhstan (5) 2-2; Russia (6) bt Mongolia (4) 3.5-0.5; USA (5) drew with Uzbekistan (5) 2-2; India (6) bt Armenia (4) 2.5-1.5; Romania (4) lt to Czech Republic (6) 1.5-2.5; Slovakia (6) bt Israel (4) 2.5-1.5; Argentina (6) bt Turkey (4) 2.5-1.5.