Indian star leader GM Krishnan Sasikiran |
Indian chess teams chalked up their second straight wins in the second round at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad on Wednesday in both the open and women’s sections.
None other than one of Asia’s greatest women chess players - WIM Rani Hamid playing for Bangladesh |
On Board 6, in the women’s section, India beat Australia 3.5 to 0.5. IM Eesha Sanjay Karawade, IM Tania Sachdev and WGM Mary Ann Gomes picked up wins over WIM Arianne Caoili, Sally Yu and Giang Nguyen. WGM Soumya Swaminathan drew with WIM Bijana Novakovic-Dekic.
France defeated Peru 3-1. Poland beat Costa Rica 4-0, while China took 3.5 points against Italy with Wang Hao defeating the young Italian-American phenom Fabiano Caruana on the top board.
Russia allowed two quick draws against Greece, but they continued pushing with the white pieces on the remaining two boards. Both Grischuk and Jakovenko were successful and Russia finished the day with a 3-1 victory. England defeated Brazil by a narrow margin thanks to the full point of Nigel Short, while the remaining three games were drawn. The same scenario was in Germany – Georgia, only this time the executioner was Arkadij Naiditsch.
Intensity of thought: 12th Women’s World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk for defending champions Russia |
Multiple teams in the Women’s section swept past their opponents with perfect scores – China beat Sweden, while leaving the World Champion Hou Yifan on the bench for the second day in a row; Georgia vs Belgium; and Poland vs Venezuela. In a stunning game, Brazilian WFM Vanessa Feliciano Ebert held European champion Valentina Gunina to a draw but it was not enough to help her team as Brazil fell to the Russian ladies 3.5-0.5. Former U.S. Chess Champion Anna Zatonskih rested today while her team mates beat Estonia 3.5-0.5. Bulgarians drew with lower-seeded Indonesians. Slovenia, led by Anna Muzychuk beat The Philippines 2.5-1.5.