The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Second win for Indians

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Second win for Indians

MALLORCA, OCT. 17. Led by World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand, Indian men came out with flying colours registering an emphatic 3.5-0.5 victory over Costa Rica in the second round of the 36th Chess Olympiad.

With the win, Indians took their tally to a respectable 6 points out of a possible 8 and they remain two points behind early leaders like Ukraine and Czech Republic.

In the women's section, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and Women Grandmaster Nisha Mohota guided India to a 2.5-0.5 triumph over Cuba in the second round.

Anand outplayed Alejandro Ramirez on Saturday from the white side of a French defence game. The victory for the Indian came fast as the game ended in under two hours time.

The other Indian men team members Krishnan Sasikiran and P. Hari Krishna recorded their first victories in the Olympiad over Gonzalez Bernal and Valdes Leonardo respectively while National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly was held to a draw by Francisco Hernandez on the fourth board.

Meanwhile, on the top board, Ukraine continued with its excellent run and scored its second 4-0 victory on the trot, accounting for the Spain `B' team.

Humpy brilliant

Humpy again turned out to be the most reliable in the team as she overpowered Arribas Maritza.

On the second board for India, Dronavalli Harika opened her Olympiad score after settling for a draw with Marrero Yaniet while Nisha Mohota had to work very hard to get the better of Vivian Ramon on the third board.

Germany, Kazakhstan and Latvia won their respective contests emerging joint leaders with 6 points each from as many games in this 14-round event being played under FIDE's Swiss rules for team competition.

As many as six teams — top seed China, Netherlands, Vietnam, Slovenia, Sweden and Russia — share the next spot with 5.5 points.

India, after its back-to-back win, is next in the points table along with Bulgaria, Serbia Montenegro, Poland, United States and Hungary. — PTI

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