The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Sasikiran draws with Kramnik

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Monday, Nov 17, 2008
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Sasikiran draws with Kramnik

NEW DELHI: K. Sasikiran drew with Vladimir Kramnik and P. Hari Krishna stunned Peter Svidler as India matched favourite Russia 1.5-1.5 with one game in progress in the fourth round of the Chess Olympiad at Dresden, Germany, on Sunday.

A day after the Indian women held top seed Russia 2-2, the 13th seeded men gave a good account of themselves after Sandipan Chanda lost to Alexander Morozevich on the fourth board.

However, on the second board, National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly is fighting a grim battle for a draw against Alexander Grischuk.

Tania, Mary shine

Meanwhile, Asian champion Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes won with black pieces to craft India’s 3-1 triumph over Germany.

Swati Ghate drew with Marta Michna after D. Harika drew with higher rated Elisabeth Paehtz after 24 turns following repetition of moves.

On Saturday, India proving equal to Russia was the biggest talking gpoint.

Playing white, Tania and Swati twice put India ahead but Russia hit back through World champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and Nadezhda Kosintseva. This creditable draw has left India in the tied seventh spot with five others behind the six-team leaders’ pack.

Tania put India ahead by nailing Tatiana Nadezhda in 42 moves before World junior girls’ champion D. Harika surrendered to Alexandra in 61moves.

Swati downed Ekaterina Korbut on the fourth board to raise visions of a repeat Indian victory, over Russia, like in 2004. But Nadezhda ended Nisha Mohota’s resistance in 108 moves to leave the teams tied. In fact, in 2004 too, Nadezhda had beaten Nisha when Humpy and S.Vijayalakshmi had played key roles in India’s 2-1 triumph.

Norway stuns China

The day also saw the third-seeded Chinese men crash to a surprise1.5-2.5 loss to Norway, led by wonder-kid Magnus Carlsen. It was Kjetil Lie’s stunning victory over Bu Xiangzhi on the second board that made the decisive difference. The other three boards were drawn.

Two other unexpected results also came in the open section when 20thseed Netherlands held seventh seed Azerbaijan 2-2, an effort matched by 35th seed Lithuania against eighth seed Israel.

The results (third round):

Open: India (9) beat El Salvador (6.5) 3.5-0.5 (K. Sasikiran bt Hector Leyva; P. Hari Krishna drew with A. Arias Lemmys; G. N. Gopal bt Eduardo Chavez Hector; Sandipan Chanda bt Nelson Martinez); Russia (8.5) bt Cuba (6) 3.5-0.5; Georgia (6.5) lost to Ukraine (7.5).

China (7) lost to Norway (8.5) 1.5-2.5; Netherlands (8.5) drew with Azerbaijan (9) 2-2; Armenia (11) bt Faroe Islands (5.5) 4-0; Germany 1(10) bt Malaysia (6.5) 3.5-0.5; Tajikistan (8.5) lost to Spain (9) 1-3.

Ladies: Russia (9) drew with India (7.5) 2-2 (Alexandra Kosteniuk bt D. Harika; Tatiana Kosintseva lost to Tania Sachdev; Nadezhda Kosintseva bt Nisha Mohota; Ekaterina Korbut lost to Swati Ghate);China (9) bt Netherlands (7) 2.5-1.5; Georgia (8) bt Israel (7) 1-2; Armenia (10) bt Germany 2 (5) 4-0; Venezuela (6.5) lost to Hungary(11) 0-4; Poland (10) bt Mexico (6) 4-0; Denmark (6.5) lost to Serbia (9) 0-4; Mongolia (5.5) lost to Ukraine (8.5) 1-3; Greece (6.5) lost to Indonesia (8.5) 1.5-2.5.

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