Chess Olympiad: India 'A' draw with France

Mamallapuram: The top two seeds in the Open section of the Chess Olympiad - USA and India 'A' - were held to draws in the fourth round here on Monday.

However, the number one ranked team in the women's event - India 'A' - edged out Hungary 2.5-1.5 to maintain their winning streak.

While India 'A' drew 2-2 with France, ranked 15th, the Americans had to share honours with Uzbekistan in the Open event.

P Harikrishna, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and S L Narayanan drew their respective games against Jules Moussad, Laurent Fressinet, Matthieu Cornette and Maxime Lagarde.

In a major upset, former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana of the USA was stunned by Nodirbek Abdusattaarov of Uzbekistan, as the country held the top-seeds 2-2.

In other results, fifth seed Poland was held by Romania to a draw (2-2) and the powerful Norway team, the third-seed, had to endure a 2-2 result against 45th ranked Mongolia.

Even as India 'A' was held by France, there were mixed fortunes for the other two host teams with India 'B' notching up a fourth straight win while India 'C' went down 1.5-2.5 to fourth-seed Spain.

Among the women, the top-ranked India 'A' had to thank Tania Sachdev for providing the all-important point in a 2.5-1.5 victory over Hungary. Sachdev defeated talented teenager Zsoka Gaal after the three other games ended in stalemate.

Koneru Humpy, back after resting in round three, drew with Thanh Trang Hoang. D Harika and R Vaishali also settled for draws against Ticia Gara and Vajda Lazarne respectively.

India 'B' continues impressive run

The 11th seeded Indian Women 'B' team edged past Estonia 2.5-1.5 with Vantika Agrawal bringing the winning point for her team while the other three games ended in draws. Vantika Agarwal has been in top form, scoring a superb 4/4.

The third-seeded Georgian team proved too strong for India 'C', winning 3-1. P V Nandhidhaa won her contest against Nino Batsiashvili, rated higher than her. On the other tables, Esha Karavade lost to Nana Dzagnidze as did Sahithi VArshini to Lela Jaikhishvili and Pratyusha to Salome Melia.

Among the men, the powerful India 'B' team continued their impressive run with Gukesh and Nihal Sarin scoring victories and R Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani conceding draws to register a 3-1 win over Italy, who upset the US on Sunday.

For India 'C', S P Sethuraman ended on the losing side while Surya Shekhar Ganguly held fancied Alexei Shirov, a former World Championship Challenger to a draw as they lost 1.5-2.5 to a strong Spain.

Gukesh played a fantastic game against Daniele Vocaturo, who had held Magnus Carlsen to a draw yesterday. In a Queen's Gambit Declined game Gukesh went on a pawn grabbing spree with tactical strokes and pocketed the point after 34 moves when his Queen, rook and bishop surrounded his opponent's king. It was Gukesh's fourth straight win.

Results: India's matches: Open: India 'A' drew with France 2-2 (P Harikrishna drew with Jules Moussad, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Laurent Fressinet, Arjun Erigaisi drew with Matthieu Cornette, S L Narayanan drew with Maxime Lagarde).

India 'B' beat Italy 3-1 (D Gukesh beat Daniele Vocaturo, Nihal Sarin beat Luca J Moroni, R Praggnanandhaa drew with Lorenzo Lodici, Raunak Sadhwani drew with Francesco Sonis).

India 'C' lost to Spain 1.5-2.5 (Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew with Alexei Shirov, S P Sethuraman drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons, Abhijeet Gupta lost to David Anton Guijarro, Karthikeyan Murali drew with Latasa Santos).

Women: India 'A' beat Hungary 2.5-1.5 (Koneru Humpy drew with TT Hoang, D Harika drew with Ticia Gara, R Vaishali drew with Vajda Lazarne, Tania Sachdev beat Zsoka Gaal).

India 'B' beat Estonia 2.5-1.5 (Vantika Agrawal beat Mai Narva, Padmini Rout drew with Margareth Olde, Soumya Swaminathan drew with Anastassia Sinitsina, Divya Deshmukh drew with Sofia Blokhin).

India 'C' lost to Georgia 1-3 (Easha Karavade lost to Nana Dzagnidze, P V Nandhidhaa beat Nino Batsiashvili, Varshini M Sahiti lost to Lela Javakhishvili, Pratyusha Bodda lost to Salome Melia).