FIDE World Women's Chess: India goes down 1-3 to Russia

India, which has qualified for the quarterfinals, will face France in the fifth and final preliminary match later on Wednesday.

D Harika (in picture) held Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw as did Mary Ann Gomes against Polina Shuvalova. (File photo)

After two straight wins, India went down 1-3 to a formidable Russian team in a fourth Pool A match in the FIDE World Women's Team Chess Championship.

D Harika, the top Indian player, held Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw as did Mary Ann Gomes against Polina Shuvalova but Tania Sachdev and R Vaishali suffered defeats as the team lost to Russia in the fourth round late on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian women had beaten a strong Armenia 2.5-1.5 in the third round.

Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni notched up the important wins to set up the victory over Armenia.

Harika had settled for a draw against Elina Danielian while the talented, young Vaishali lost to Lilit Mkrtchian.

India and Armenia now have 5 points each after four rounds behind Russia (8). A team gets two points for winning a match and one for a draw.

In the India-Russia encounter, the higher rated Katernya Lagno and Alexandra Kosteniuk put it across Tania Sachdev and Vaishali to assert the Russian team's superiority.

India, which has qualified for the quarterfinals, will face France in the fifth and final preliminary match later on Wednesday.