Mamallapuram: Indian women’s A team notched up their seventh successive victory against sixth seed Azerbaijan with a 2.5-1.5 score to maintain their sole lead in the women’s section with 14 points at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Friday.
India A, though, suffered a few hiccups after Humpy ended on the losing side in the first game. However, Tania Sachdev and R Vaishali once again rose to the occasion magnificently by scoring hard fought victories while Harika Dronavalli also battled hard to split the point.
Vaishali played splendidly in a drawn position, pressurising her opponent with precise positive play and finally scoring a delightful victory.
Ability to win
Vaishali later commented: “Till the 40th turn, my game was dead equal and I considered settling for a draw. After Humpy’s loss, I had to keep pressing and interestingly, this was one position, which we had worked in the camp with Boris Gelfand and I followed his suggestions to the ‘T’.”
A hall mark of the women’s A team has been the ability of every player to score a win when the team needed it most.
“The way Harika, Vaishali and Tania continued in this pressure situation is very heartening. The players understand the situation perfectly and deliver,” India A captain Abhijit Kunte said.
Bouncing back
Meanwhile, in the open section, India A hit the accelerator when it mattered, defeating fellow countrymen in India C with a 3-1 score. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Abhijit Gupta and S L Narayanan outplayed Abhimany Puranik even while Pnetala Harikrishna was held to a draw by Surya Shekhar Ganguly and SP Sethuraman forced Vidit to split the point.
India B, after a loss to Armenia in the sixth round, bounced back with a 3.5-0.5 score against Cuba with D Gukesh leading from the front once again to notch up his seventh successive victory in the tournament.
Setback for USA Team
Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa too made merry with two fine victories while Adhiban B was held to a draw.
In another setback for the star-studded USA Team, Armenia held them to a 2-2 draw and continued their sole vigil at the top of the points tally with 13 points. India A and India B, USA, Uzbekistan are trailing behind with 12 points each.
India B in the women section lost to Greece 1.5-2.5. Divya Deshmukh scored the lone victory for India while Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan lost their encounters and Mary Ann Gomes had to stay content with a draw. India women C team defeated Switzerland 3-1.
