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Kolkata: The India A men’s team inched closer to the title, beating Iran convincingly 3.5-0.5 in the fifth round of the Asian Team Chess Championship here Saturday.
With two more rounds remaining, India A are now in a commanding position with 10 points, with their nearest rivals Iran and Vietnam being three points behind on seven points apiece.
Only Indian captain K. Sasikiran was held to a draw by GM Elshan Moradiabadi , while P.Harikrishna, S.S. Ganguly and Parimarjan Negi won their games comfortably at the Town Hall.
The Bangladesh men’s team were overwhelmed by the all-GM Vietnam team, and India B trounced minnows Nepal 4-0 to take their tally to 6 points and be placed fourth.
In the women’s section, overnight leaders Vietnam continued to lead the field with a 3.5-0.5 win over Singapore to boost their score to 9 points. Behind them are the India A and the India B teams on 7 points each.
The strong India A team consisting comprising Eesha Karvade, Tania Sachdev Soumya Swaminathan and Kruttika Nadig faced little resistance from the inexperienced Lankan team and won 4-0.
India B crushed Indonesia 3.5-0.5, with the only draw coming from WGM Mary Ann Gomes who played against Sukander Irine Karishma on the top board.
Results:
Men’s Section
India A (10) bt Iran (7)
P. Harikrishna bt Ehsan Ghaem Maghami
K. Sasikiran drew with Elshan Moradiabadi
S.S. Ganguly bt Mahjoob Morteza
Parimarjan Negi bt Homayoon Toufighi
Bangladesh (4) lost to Vietnam (7)
Ziaur Rahman lost to Le Quang Liem
Niaz Murshed lost to N.N. Troung Son
Md. Abdul Malek lost to Bui Vinh
Mahtabuddin Ahmed lost to Nguyen Anh Dung
Indonesia (6) bt Sri Lanka (3)
Susanto Megaranto bt H.L.M. Hapuarachchi
Anjas Novita bt Dulan Edirisinghe
Kaiser Jenius Hakiki bt R.S. Kalugampitiya
Farid Firman Syah bt Wijesuriya G Luxman
Nepal (1) lost to India B (6)
Rajkishor Mahato lost to B Adhiban
Punya Man Karmacharya lost to S Satyapragyan
Sajan Pandey lost to R R Laxman
Sujendra Prasad Shrestha lost to Deep Sengupta
Singapore (4) bt Yemen (2)
Wu Shaobin bt Abdullah Sonbul
Chua Zheng Yuan Terry bt Fouad Mofleh
Lo Kin Mun Dominic bt Faraj Yahya
Tan Weiliang bt Al-Aqrabi Saleh
Women’s Section
Singapore (5) lost to Vietnam (9)
Tay Li Jin Jeslin lost to Le Thanh Tu
Liu Yang lost to Pham Le Thao Nguyen
Chan Wei Yi Victoria drew with Nguyen Thi Thanh An
Neo Xiuwen Christabel lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung
Indonesia (4) lost to India B (7)
Sukander Irine Karisma drew with Mary Ann Gomes
Lestari Baiq Vina lost to Nisha Mohota
Dewi Aa Ci Ra lost to Padmini Rout
Medina Warda Ulia lost to Bhakti Kulkarni
Sri Lanka (3) lost to India B (7)
S.D. Ranasinghe lost to Eesha Karvade
Premanath Dinushki lost to Tania Sachdev
Supeshala Thilakawardana lost to Soumya Swaminathan
U.G.S.S.S. Udupitiya lost to Kruttika Nadig
Nepal (1) lost to Bangladesh (4)
Monalisa Khamboo lost to Nazrana Khan
Namrata Chudal lost to Zakia Sultana
Tara Ghale lost to Begum Masuda
Bishekha Jaiswal lost to Rani Hamid