India surrendered tamely to top seed China One 1-3 and slipped to the tied fourth spot after three rounds of the women’s World team chess championship at Ningbo, China, on Friday.
Playing white, D. Harika came up with a creditable draw against World championship runner-up Hou Yifan in 53 moves after Eesha signed peace with Ju Wenjun in just 21 moves. But the two Indians with black pieces, Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes, failed to survive.
Tania suffered her third defeat in as many rounds after running into former World junior girls’ champion Xue Zhao in 32 moves. Mary gave up in 46 moves against Huang Qian.
The results (third round):
India lost to China One 1-3 (D. Harika drew with Hou Yifan; Tania Sachdev lost to Zhao Xue; Eesha Karavade drew with Ju Wenjun; Mary Ann Gomes lost to Huang Qian); China Two lost to Poland 1.5-2.5; Ukraine lost to Georgia 1-3; Vietnam drew with USA 2-2; Armenia drew with Russia 2-2.
Standings (after three rounds): 1. Poland (6 match points), 2. Georgia (5), 3. China (4), 4-6 USA, Ukraine, India (3 each), 7-8 Russia, Armenia (2 each) and 9-10 Vietnam and China Two (1 each).
