The Hindu : Sport / Chess : USA crushes India in ninth round

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USA crushes India in ninth round

CHESS / Only Ganguly manages a draw on the third board

NEW DELHI: Gata Kamsky overpowered K. Sasikiran and Hikaru Nakamura downed P. Hari Krishna as 10th seed USA scored a crushing 3.5-0.5 victory over India in the ninth round of the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, on Saturday.

India, in the 17th spot after drawing with lower-rated Slovenia in the previous round, salvaged half-a-point when Surya Shekhar Ganguly managed a draw on the third board against Alexander Grischuk in 37moves. G.N. Gopal surrendered to Varuzhan Akobian.

Ladies too fare badly

Even in the ladies section, where India lost 1.5-2.5 to Serbia on Friday, another defeat appeared likely.

Fifth seed France took a 1-0 lead when Sophie Millet stopped Swati Ghate in 40 moves on the fourth board.

D. Harika, who had two bishops against Marie Sebag’s rook, looked like holding the position. Tania Sachdev and Nisha Mohota were engaged in equal battles with higher rated Almira Skripchenko and Silvia Collas, respectively. India is currently ranked 14th.

On Friday, Harika and Hari shook off their indifferent forms to score victories but the defeats of in-form Tania, Mary Ann Gomes and a struggling Sandipan Chanda undid all the good work.

On the leading boards, USA crushed top seed Russia 3-1 in the women’s section and defending champion Armenia emerged leader in the open category with a 3.5-0.5 victory over France.

Chinese women in lead

Chinese women continued to lead despite being held by Ukraine. Meanwhile, it took the collective effort of four players born in the erstwhile Soviet Union to script USA’s commanding 3-1 triumph over top seed Russia.

Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih, both born in Ukraine, made a mockery of ratings to stun World champion Alexandra Konteniuk and Tatiana Kosintseva on the top two boards.

On the two lower boards, Georgia-born Rusudan Golentiani and Ukraine-born Katerina Rohonyan drew with Nadezhda Kosintseva and Ekaterina Korbut to help USA complete an emphatic victory.

In the Open section, Russia managed to down USA 2.5-1.5 without the services of Vladimir Kramnik.

Though Gata Kamsky beat Peter Svidler on the top board, Russia was well served by Alexander Grischuk and Dmitry Jakovenko who won with white.

The results (eighth round):

Open: Slovenia (20) drew with India (19.5) 2-2 (Alexander Beliavsky drew with K. Sasikiran; Dusko Pavasovic lost to P. Hari Krishna; Luka Lenic drew with G.N. Gopal; Jure Borisek bt Sandipan Chanda); France(19.5) lost to Armenia (24) 0.5-3.5; Israel (21.5) bt Germany 1 (20.5) 2.5-1.5; USA (19.5) lost to Russia (2.5) 1.5-2.5.

China (20) drew with Vietnam (22) 2-2; Ukraine (20) bt New Zealand (16.5) 4-0; Azerbaijan (21) bt Croatia (17.5) 2.5-1.5; Bulgaria (23) drew with Belarus (20) 2-2.

England (19.5) bt Georgia (19) 2.5-1.5; Slovakia (23) bt Greece (18.5) 3-1; Turkey (21) lost to Poland (22) 1.5-2.5.

Ladies: India (18.5) lost to Serbia (21) 1.5-2.5 (D. Harika bt Alisa Maric; Tania Sachdev lost to Natasa Bojkovic; Swati Ghate drew with Andjelija Stojanovic; Mary Ann Gomes lost to Irina Chelushkina); Ukraine (22.5) drew with China (22.5) 2-2; USA (23.5) bt Russia (21) 3-1.

Poland (20.5) bt Hungary (21) 3-1; Moldova (17) lost to Georgia (21.5) 0-4; France (23) drew with Uzbekistan (19) 2-2; Romania (21) bt The Netherlands (17.5) 3-1; Slovenia (22.5) bt Ecuador (18.5) 3-1; Azerbaijan (16) lost to Armenia (20.5) 0-4; Switzerland (17.5) lost to Bulgaria (20.5) 1.5-2.5.

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