India trounce Armenia in World C`ships

Mardin: The Indian eves came up with a spectacular performance to crush Armenia 3.5-0.5 in the fourth round and take the sole second spot in the World Team Chess Championship.

Grand Master Koneru Humpy yet again provided the much-needed support and defeated top Armenian Elina Danielian while Tania Sachdev and Soumya Swaminathan delivered the goods on the last two boards to ensure an excellent victory. With this win, the Indians moved to sole second spot behind China that had another good day at the expense of Vietnamese girls. While China moved to a perfect eight match points from their four outings following a 3-1 rout, India remained a point behind. Georgia held Russia to a draw relegating the latter to the third spot with six rounds still to come in the premier team event for women. As things stand, Russia with six points, stand third in the standings, a point clear of fourth-placed Georgia. Vietnam and Turkey share the fifth spot on four points each and Ukraine is seventh with three points. Armenia, Greece and South Africa complete the 10-team line-up a point adrift of each other. In other matches of the day, Turkey defeated South Africa 3-1 while Ukraine accounted for Greece by a huge 3.5-0.5 margin. Humpy`s inclusion in the team has been a boon. This decision should be lauded following a recent initiative by All India Chess Federation as the difference is there for all to see. This is simply turning out to be a different team in Humpy`s presence. PTI