The Hindu : Sport / Chess : India defeats Mongolia

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Thursday, Dec 07, 2006
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India defeats Mongolia

Manuel Aaron

Doha: Despite a valiant effort by P. Harikrishna, India was able to beat Mongolia only 2.5 to 0.5.

China, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Turkmenistan have secured all the three points when Round One of the Asian team championship in classical chess concluded on Wednesday at the Al Dana Club.

Other countries on 2.5 points along with India are Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

It was not smooth sailing for India as Koneru Humpy was on the backfoot playing the Modern Defence against Woman Grandmaster Bathuyag Mongontuul. A queen sortie on the 15th move was exploited by the Mongolian who got the upper hand. But in the face of a determined and crafty defence the Mongolian slipped into time trouble. Humpy pounced on Mongontuul's mistakes and won a rook and the game with a tactical stroke on the 34th move.

Next to win was captain of the team Sasikiran. Playing the Grunfeld he was a pawn down in the early middle-game with a very fluid position. While Batchuluun was busy defending incursions on his queen-side, Sasikiran played a spectacular rook sacrifice on the g2 square to tear open the white position and launch a vigorous attack. He won on the 31st move.

On the second board, Harikrishna with the white pieces got a middle-game advantage against Gundavaa but could not translate it into a win. After 67 moves in a knight ending the game was drawn.

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