Georgia Astana: The Indian men scored an expected yet crushing 3.5-0.5 victory over last-minute entrants Sweden while the women got off to a flier by holding higher-ranked Georgia in the first round of World Teams Chess Championships, here Tuesday.
Grandmaster B Adhiban delivered the goods on the top board for the men with a finely-crafted game with white pieces, laying the foundation of a huge win. The others did not disappoint as Surya Shekhar Ganguly cruised home against Axel Smith while S P Sethuraman defeated Linue Johansson. On the second board Krishnan Sasikiran conceded a half point to Erik Blomqvist. Only defending champion Chinese men were able to match the Indians as they overpowered Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.
The young Iranian team won many hearts as they lost narrowly to Russia by a 1.5-2.5 margin. The English men won convincingly over local hopefuls with some fine display on the top boards yielding them a minimal 2.5-1.5 victory. In the other match of the day, United States defeated Egypt by a 3-1 margin. As things stand, India, China, Russia, USA and England share the lead with two match points apiece while the remaining five contestants are yet to open their account.
In the women’s section it turned out to be a good start by the Indian eves as they were able to match the Georgian ladies 2-2, thanks to some spirited display by Soumya Swaminathan on the second board. Soumya came good against Meri Arabidze to restore parity for the team while Padmini Rout suffered a defeat at the hands of Nino Batsisashvili.
On the top board Eesha Karavade held her front against Bela Khotenashvili while on the fourth Bhakti Kulkarni kept her cool to a safe passage against Melia Salome. Armenia scored an easy 4-0 victory over last seeds Egypt in this section and the top seed Russian women beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to open their account on a positive note. The surprise of the day was Ukraine’s draw with United States while the Chinese girls had it easy defeating Hungary by a 3.5-0.5 margin.
Results round 1 open: India beat Sweden 3.5-0.5 (B Adhiban beat Nils Grandelius; Erik Blomqvist drew with K Sasikiran; Surya Shekhar Ganguly beat Axel Smith; Linus Johansson lost to S P Sethuraman); China beat Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5; Iran lost to Russia 1.5-2.5; England beat Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5; Egypt lost to USA 1-3.
Women: India drew with Georgia 2-2 (Eesha Karavade drew with Bela Khotenashvili; Meri Arabidze lost to Soumya Swaminathan; Padmini Rout lost to Nino Batsiashvili; Melia Salome drew with Bhakti Kulkarni); Russia beat Kazakhstan 3-1; Egypt lost to Armenia 0-4; China beat Hungary 3.5-0.5; Ukraine drew with USA 2-2.