Chess:India clinches series

India completed a comprehensive 2-0 series victory over fancied Armenia after clinching the third and final round 3-1 at the Russian Cultural Centre here on Tuesday.

India won the first round 2.5-1.5 on Sunday and drew the second 2-2 before coming up with a commanding performance on the final day. In all, India won six of the nine decisive games over three days.

Grandmaster S. Arun Prasad and the World under-16 champion B. Adhiban emerged as the heroes of India’s comprehensive victory having contributed 2.5 points each from their three games. World junior champion Abhijeet Gupta won two games against the Armenian spearhead Zaven Andriasian on the top board.

Making the difference

For the second successive day, Arun won with black pieces against higher seeded GM Hrant Melkumyan, in 40 moves, to aptly reflect India’s superior preparedness for the tie. Arun’s passed pawn on the queen’s side made the difference on this day.

Abhijeet avenged the loss suffered on Monday by overpowering Andriasian in an emphatic manner in 45 moves after sacrificing a knight.

Earlier, an in-form Adhiban was made to take things easy by coach Vishal Sareen and the youngster settled for a quick 13-move draw against GM Avetik Grigoryan. Deep Sengupta, looked well placed against Samvel Ter Sahakyan but took a draw in 42 moves once the other boards were decided.

The results: Third round:

India bt Armenia 3-1 (Abhijeet Gupta bt Zaven Andriasian; S. Arun Prasad bt Hrant Melkumyan; B. Adhiban drew with Avetik Grigoryan; Samvel Ter Sahakyan drew with Deep Sengupta).

Chess: Indian Men finish 16th and Women finish 15th

The 32nd Chess Olympiad has come to a close with Indian Men and Women finishing 16th and 15th respectively. Armenia and Georgia went on to win the Mens and Womens title respectively.

P Harikrishna and Surya Shekhar Ganguly guided the Indian men to victory while Krishnan Sasikiran and G N Gopal played out draws. Harikrishna scored at the expense of Luboimir Ftacnik while Ganguly got the better of Tomas Petrik.

All the Indian men except Sandipan Chanda stand to gain a little rating from their showing in this tournament and the overall performance is better than last time when they finished 30th after starting out as the second seeds.

The Indian women could have finished better but for a miscalculation by D Harika in the final round game against Elina Sedina. While the other three boards ended in draws, Harika’s loss proved costly as the 11th seed team ended joint 13th on 14 match points.

In a nail biting finale, Armenian men retained the crown in the open section after beating China by a minimal 2.5-1.5 margin. For the Armenians Tigran Petrosian provided the much needed breakthrough on the fourth board against Li Chao while the remaining three games ended in draws.

The silver in this section went to Israel after they bounced back to beat Holland 2.5-1.5, while the US men’s team handed a 3.5-0.5 drubbing to second seed Ukraine to stake their claim for the Bronze.

For the records, the Armenians ended with 19 match points, Israel finished on 18 while the US finished ahead of Ukraine for a creditable third finish. None of the top seven ranked teams won a medal.

In the women’s section, Georgia regained the Crown defeating Serbia in their final round clash. The overnight leader Polish ladies went down against Ukraine on the top board and went out of medal contention.

The Georgian women finished with (18) points in all and had the better tiebreak score than Ukraine who finished second. The US women’s team finished third here beating France [Images] by a 2.5-1.5 margin and ending on 17 points with better tie-break than Russia [Images] and Poland respectively.

For the Georgian women the contribution by former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze proved to be most useful as the veteran Grandmaster registered a rating performance of 2715 points in her 7.5/9 score.

The 32nd edition of the Olympiad had 144 teams participating in the open section, while there were 111 teams in the women’s.

For every victory the teams were awarded with two match points while in the event of a drawn 2-2 result the points was shared. In the open section Armenia won nine matches, drew one and lost one while in the women’s Georgia won eight and drew two matches.

The next edition of the Olympiad will be held at Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, in 2010.

Important results final round Open:
(Men) India (26) beat Slovakia (27) 3-1 (K. Sasikiran drew with Sergei Movsesian; P. Harikrishna beat Lubomir Ftacnik; Surya Shekhar Ganguly beat Tomas Petrik; G. N. Gopal drew with Peter Vavrak); China (16) lost to Armenia (19) 1.5-2.5; USA (17) beat Ukraine (17) 3.5-0.5; Israel (18) beat Netherlands (15) 2.5-1.5; Russia (16) drew with Spain (16) 2-2; France (14) lost to Azerbaijan (16) 1.5-2.5; Vietnam (16) beat Serbia (14) 2.5-1.5; Hungary (16) beat Belarus (14) 2.5-1.5; Georgia (16) beat Romania (14) 2.5-1.5; Croatia (14) drew with England [Images] (15) 2-2.

(Women) India (14) lost to Armenia (16) 1.5-2.5 (D. Harika lost to Elina Danielian; Tania Sachdev drew with Lilit Mkrtchian; Swati Ghate drew with Nelly Aginian; Mary Ann Gomes drew with Lilit Galojan); Poland (17) lost to Ukraine (18) 1.5-2.5; Georgia (18) beat Serbia (16) 3-1; USA (17) beat France (14) 2.5-1.5; Netherlands (14) lost to Russia (15) 1.5-2.5; Romania (15) drew with China (15) 2-2; Hungary (14) drew with Uzbekistan (14) 2-2; Italy [Images] (15) beat Greece (13) 2.5-1.5;Argentina (13) lost to Belarus (15) 1-3; Mongolia (14) drew with Bulgaria (14) 2-2. Standings: Open: 1. Armenia (19 match points), 2. Israel (18), 3. USA (17); 16. India (15). Ladies: 1. Georgia (18), 2. Ukraine (18), 3. USA (17); 15. India (14).

Scores of Indian players (Open):

Men: Krishnan Sasikiran 6/10; P Harikrishna 6/10; Surya Shekhar Ganguly 6/9; G N Gopal 5.5/9; Sandipan Chanda 2.5/6.

Women: D Harika 5/10; Tania Sachdev 6.5/11; Nisha Mohota ; Swati Ghate 6.5/11; Mary Ann Gomes 6/8.

Chess: Indian teams score at Chess Olympiad

The Indian men’s and women’s teams scored identical 2.5-1.5 victories over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy respectively, in the sixth round of the 32nd chess Olympiad now underway in Dresden, Germany.

The Indian men moved to joint-third place with 10 points out of a possible 12 in the Open section and are now behind Russia and Armenia, who share the lead on 11 points each.

The women took their tally to nine points and share sixth place.

China (12 points) continue to lead the women’s section and opened up a two-point lead over nearest rivals United States after beating Hungary 2.5-1.5 in the sixth round.

Playing the top board, Krishnan Sasikiran defeated Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to open India’s account. That was the lone victory for the men, the remaining three games ending in draws.

P Harikrishna signed peace with Borki Predojevic while Ibro Saric and Dalibor Stojanovic held higher-ranked Indians Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda.

Among the women, Tania Sachdev succumbed to her first defeat in the tournament when she went down to Olga Zimina of Italy.

World junior girls’ champion D Harika’s hunt for an elusive victory on the top board continued after she was held by Elena Sedina. With India trailing, it needed the in-form Swati Ghate and Mary Ann Gomes to ensure victory.

Swati accounted for Elionora Ambrosi while Mary Ann defeated Marina Brunello.

At the top, Vladimir Kramnik and Dmitry Jakovenko showed the way as the Russian men cruised past England with an emphatic 3-1 victory.

Kramnik accounted for former World championship candidate Nigel Short on the top board while on the fourth board, Jakovenko proved too good for Stuart Conquest.

Armenia defeated Azerbaijan with Vladimir Akopian coming good on the second board against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The remaining three games ended in draws.

Sasikiran displayed top form with his black pieces, who employed a Neo-Grunfeld defence and Nikolic was eventually out-manoeuvred.

Tania went down after some over-ambitious play with white pieces against Olga. It was a semi-Slav defence by the Italian that netted her a full point after 43 moves.

Swati scored a fine victory in the Sicilian defence with black pieces to take her personal score to 4.5 points out of 6 while Mary Ann proved too good in her 27-move triumph.

Important Round 6 results (match point in paranthesis):

Men: Russia (11) bt England (9) 3-1; Ukraine (10) drew with Germany ’1′ (10) 2-2; Azerbaijan (9) lost to Armenia (11) 1.5-2.5; France (10) bt Poland (8) 3-1; Bosnia & Herzegovina (8) lost to India (10) 1.5-2.5 (P Nikolic lost to Krishnan Sasikiran, P Harikrishna drew with Borki Predojevic, Ibro Saric drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Dalibor Stojanovic drew with Sandipan Chanda); Sweden (8) lost to Israel (10) 1.5-2.5; Georgia (8) lost to China (10) 1.5-2.5; Romania (10) bt Bulgaria (8) 2.5-1.5; Colombia (7) lost to Hungary (9) 1.5-2.5; Netherlands (9) bt Moldova (7) 3-1.

Women: Hungary (9) lost to China (12) 1.5-2.5; Austria (8) lost to Russia (10) 1-3; Romania (8) lost to United States of America (10) 0-4; Georgia (8) lost to Poland (10) 1.5-2.5; Uzbekistan (8) lost to Netherlands (10) 1-3; Armenia (8) lost to Ukraine (10) 0.5-3.5; England (8) lost to Bulgaria (9) 1-3; Italy (7) lost to India (9) 1.5-2.5 (Elena Sedina drew with D Harika, Tania Sachdev lost to Olga Zimina, Elionora Ambrosi lost to Swati Ghate, Mary Ann Gomes bt Marina Brunello); Mongolia (9) bt Israel (7) 3-1; Slovenia (8) drew with Azerbaijan (8) 2-2.