39th chess Olympiad: Indian men bow to Russia, eves go down to Bulgaria

Russia:Krishnan Sasikiran and Surya Shekhar Ganguly suffered defeats at the hands of their respective opponents as the Indian men`s team went down to favourites Russia`s second team in the fourth round of the 39th chess Olympiad here.

Hosts Russia have, incidentally, fielded five teams this time and their second side proved stronger for the Indians with white pieces, while on the remaining two boards they achieved drawn results to ensure a handsome victory. Sasikiran was on the receiving end against Ian Nepomniachtchi while Ganguly went down to Nikita Vituigov. The draws for India came on the second and fourth board with Harikrishna signing peace against Evgeny Alekseev and G N Gopal splitting points with Evgeny Tomashevsky. With as many as 14 leaders before the start of the fourth round, the Indian men are likely to slip quite far from the joint leader status. The biggest upset of the Olympiad in an individual result, thus far, was caused by Baadur Jobava of Georgia who got the better of world number one Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in startling fashion. Meanwhile, more bad news was in store for the Indian contingent as the Indian eves also lost fighting against their Bulgarian counterparts by a 1.5-2.5 margin. While the last three boards ended in draws, D Harika found her nemesis in former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Tania Sachdev had some chances to get the upper hand against Margarita Voiska but the later was quite alert in finding her resources. The only real chance to equalise came on board four wherein S Meenakshi had suitable compensation for her lost queen but in the end this game too petered out to a drawn result. On the other board Eesha Karavade`s extra pawn did not come in handy. Indian Results after Round 4: Men: Ian nepomniachtchi beat Krishnan Sasikiran; P Harikrishna drew with Dmitry Jakovenko; Nikita Vituigov beat Surya Shekhar Ganguly; G N Gopal drew with Evgeny Tomashevsky. Women: Antoaneta Stefanova beat D Harika; Tania Sachdev drew with Margarita Voiska; Adriana Nikolova drew with Eesha Karavade; Iva Videmova drew with S Meenakshi. PTI