Chess Olympiad: Top seeds’ resistance begins to wane

Mamallapuram, August 1

The top two seeds in the open section of the Chess Olympiad — the USA and India A — were held to draws in the fourth round here today.

However, the No. 1 ranked team in the women’s event — India A — edged out Hungary 2.5-1.5 to maintain their winning streak.

While India A drew 2-2 with France, ranked 15th, the Americans had to share honours with Uzbekistan in the open event.

P Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan drew their respective games against Jules Moussard, Laurent Fressinet, Matthieu Cornette and Maxime Lagarde.

In a major upset, former World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana of the USA was stunned by Nodirbek Abdusattarov of Uzbekistan, as the country held the top seeds 2-2.

In the other results, fifth seed Poland was held by Romania to a draw (2-2) and the powerful Norway team, the third-seed, had to endure a 2-2 result against the 45th-ranked Mongolia.

Even as India A was held by France, there were mixed fortunes for the other two host teams with India B notching up a fourth straight win while India C went down 1.5-2.5 to fourth seed Spain.

Among the women, the top-ranked India A had to thank Tania Sachdev for providing the all-important point in a 2.5-1.5 victory over Hungary. Sachdev defeated talented teenager Zsoka Gaal after the three other games ended in stalemate. The 11th-seeded Indian women B edged past Estonia 2.5-1.5. — PTI

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