India’s medal prospects in the World team chess championship took a serious blow in the sixth round following a fighting 2-2 draw with lower-ranked Turkey in the open section and the 1-3 loss to Russia in the ladies category here on Friday.
With three rounds to go, India holds the fifth position in both sections. For a possible medal, India will have to strike big and hope for favourable results from the matches involving other contenders.
Russian men are ahead in the Open section while the ladies lead jointly with their counterparts from Ukraine. When the action resumed after a day’s rest, the defeats of Padmini Rout and S. Vijayalakshmi on the lower boards hit India hard. On either side of these defeats D. Harika and Eesha Karavade, on the first two boards, drew in contrasting ways to contribute to India’s tally.
In the Open section, Vidit Gujrathi drew early and K. Sasikiran’s victory was offset by the loss of B. Adhiban. On the fourth board, Parimarjan Negi raised visions of pulling off a victory but missed the precise continuation under time-pressure and settled for a draw.
Sixth round results
Open: India (7) drew with Turkey (8) 2-2 (Vidit Gujrathi drew with Dragan Solak; B. Adhiban lost to Mustafa Yilmaz; K. Sasikiran bt Emre Can; Parimarjan Negi drew with Muhammed Batuhan Dastan);
Poland (8) lost to Russia (11) 1-3; China (10) bt Ukraine (4) 2.5-1.5;
Belarus (4) bt Norway (2) 3.5-0.5;
USA (6) bt Egypt (0) 3-1.
Women: India (7) lost to Russia (10) 1-3 (D. Harika drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk; Eesha Karavade drew with Kateryna Lagno; Padmini Rout lost to Valentina Gunina; S. Vijayalakshmi lost to Olga Girya);
Ukraine (10) bt Azerbaijan (4) 2.5-1.5;
USA (4) lost to China (8) 1-3;
Georgia (6) bt Vietnam (4) 3-1;
Poland (7) bt Egypt (0) 3.5-0.5.
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