Ningbo (China): Indian eves put up a
creditable show, defeating United States 3-1 in the final
round to finish seventh in the Women's World Team Chess
Championship here.
Favourites China One topped a three-way tie on 12 match
points and took the title with a better tie-break score than
Russia and Ukraine.
China One was held by Vietnam in the final round on all
four boards despite the former enjoying better positions on at
least two of the four boards.
Russia and Ukraine won their matches to catch up with
China One at 12 match points. The tie was broken on the basis
of game points. China One (21.5) finished ahead of Russia
(21.0) and Ukraine (20.5).
The fourth place was taken by Georgian that beat
erstwhile leaders Poland 3-1. The Armenian eves finished fifth
along side Poland on 10 points while the Indians were placed
next having nine match points in all.
For India, the last round victory over USA did not help
its standing too much. Tania Sachdev displayed her true
potential by defeating Anna Zatonskykh in 47 moves on the
second board while Eesha Karavade downed Rusudan Goletiani in
42 moves on the third board.
Earlier, D Harika and Irina Krush drew in just 17 moves
on the first board and Kruttika Nadig signed peace with Alisa
Melekhina on the fourth to give India a 3-1 victory.
It could have been much better had the team not suffered
three successive defeats and the marginal loss against Ukraine
in the penultimate round did not help their cause either.
International Master Eesha Karavade was the pick among
the Indians scoring an excellent six points out of a possible
nine on the third board. D Harika was the only Indian who
played all nine games and garnered 4.5 points in all on the
first board.
Tania Sachdev ended her campaign on a high but her
results in the first four games that she lost would mean that
she will end up losing some rating points in the next FIDE
rating list.
The other two Indians in the fray -– Mary Ann Gomes and
Kruttika Nadig -- will also lose rating points. Mary Ann
scored three points out of her seven games while Kruttika
ended up with 1.5 points out of her four games.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, September 12, 2009, 10:40