The Hindu : Sport / Chess : India blanks Turkmenistan

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Friday, Dec 08, 2006
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India blanks Turkmenistan

Manuel Aaron

Doha: India had a satisfying day, overcoming a few hiccups to blank Turkmenistan 3-0 in the second round of the Asian Team chess championship. India and Qatar lead this 21 nation, 9-round Swiss with 5.5 points each.

Second seed China was surprisingly beaten 2-1 by Uzbekistan. The Indian super grandmasters Sasikiran and Harikrishna proved the value of their high rating when they outwitted the International Masters from Turkmenistan.

On top board Sasikiran seemed to have problems which his opponent Meilis Annaberdiev himself solved for him. Then Annaberdiev pushed a pawn unwisely and Sasikiran promptly wrapped up a rook ending with two extra pawns.

Humpy wins

The first game to end was India's golden girl Humpy's attacking victory over Woman Grandmaster Mekhri Geldiyeva. Humpy gained space advantage and won through a terrific king-side attack.

The last game to end today was Harikrishna's game against Mesgen Amanov. Harikrishna was in trouble with two knights against two powerful bishops. But he waited and opened up the queen-side at the right moment to confuse his opponent.

Harikrishna's brilliant knight manoeuvres had the Turkmen master in all kinds of bother and Hari won the resulting rook and pawn ending easily.

On Friday India takes on the host Qatar.

The standings at the end of round 2: 1-2: India, Qatar 5.5; 3-4: Uzbekistan, Vietnam 5; 5-7: China, Iran, Bangladesh 4; 8-9: Indonesia, Mongolia 3.5; 10-13: Jordan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kazakhstan 3; 14: Bahrain 2.5; 15-16: Philippines, UAE 2; 17-19: Sri Lanka, Macau China, Palestine 1.5; 20-21: Japan, Nepal 0.

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