B. Adhiban bounced back from two defeats to script India’s account-opening victory over Belarus in the third round of the World team chess championship on Monday.
Adhiban punished Vladislav Kovalev for a blunder committed on the 24th move and won six moves later to put India ahead. Parimarjan Negi on the last board and Vidit Gujrathi drew by turns. K. Sasikiran tried to press for victory on the second board but eventually settled for a draw to complete India’s 2.5-1.5 victory.
In contrast to the first victory in the open section, the Indian women suffered their first defeat, losing to higher-ranked Ukraine 1.5-2.5.
Tania Sachdev, instrumental in India’s triumph over USA on Sunday, was the lone player to lose after facing Inna Gaponenko on the second board. In the last game to finish on the day, Tania battled hard for 83 moves before giving up. Earlier, D. Harika, Eesha Karavade and Padmini Rout drew their games.
The results (third round):
Open: India (2) bt Belarus (1) 2.5-1.5 (Vidit Gujrathi drew with Sergey Zhigalko; B. Adhiban bt Vladislav Kovalev; K. Sasikiran drew with Kirill Stupak; Parimarjan Negi drew with Alexei Fedorov).
USA (3) drew with China (5) 2-2; Egypt (0) lost to Poland (6) 1-3; Turkey (4) bt Norway (2) 2.5-1.5; Ukraine (2) lost to Russia (5) 1.5-2.5.
Women: India (3) lost to Ukraine (5) 1.5-2.5 (D. Harika drew with Anna Ushenina; Tania Sachdev lost to Inna Gaponenko; Eesha Karavade drew with Iulija Osmak.
Padmini Rout drew with Nataliya Buksa); Russia (5) drew with Azerbaijan (3) 2-2; Poland (4) drew with USA (1) 2-2; Egypt (0) lost to Georgia (4) 0-4; China (3) bt Vietnam (2) 2.5-1.5.
