Host teams’ winning runs continue

CHENNAI: The India teams continued their winning runs in the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad with all three posting easy victories over their respective opponents in Mahabalipuram near here on Sunday.

While the second-seeded India ‘A’ rode on wins from Grandmasters P Harikrishna and Arjun Erigaisi for a 3-1 victory against Greece, India ‘B’ swept past Switzerland 4-0. The India ‘C’ team got the better of Iceland 3-1. Vidit Gujrathi, playing on second board for India ‘A’, settled for a draw against Nikolaos Theodorou while K Sasikiran was held by Evgenios Ioannidis.

Speaking to the media after beating Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, Harikrishna said that his opponent put up a good resistance. Meanwhile, the top-seeded USA stamped its authority with a 3-1 win over Georgia. Though Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez Perez could not record wins, Levon Aronian and Sam Shankland got the job done by beating Mikheil Mchedlishvili and Tamaz Gelashvili respectively.

In the Women’s section, the three India teams were victorious for a third straight day. The ‘A’ team rested Koneru Humpy, but came through 3-1 against England, courtesy wins from R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni.

D Harika featured for the first time in this Olympiad on Sunday and this is the ninth consecutive time that she is playing for India, not to mention the two virtual Olympiads.

The 31-year old Harika is in the advanced stages of her first pregnancy and was pitted against Jovanka Houska of England. She could not secure a win on the top board.

The ‘B’ team recorded a 3-1 victory against Indonesia with Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan beating Irine Kharisma Sukandar and Fariha Mariroh respectively. Padmini Rout and Mary Ann Gomes had to settle for draws against their opponents.

The ‘C’ team won 2.5-1.5 against Austria, thanks to victories from PV Nandhidhaa and Pratyusha Bodda.

RESULTS (INDIA ONLY): Open: India ‘A’ beat Greece 3-1 (P Harikrishna beat Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Nikolaos Theodorou, Arjun Erigaisi beat Athanasios Mastrovasilis, K Sasikiran drew with Evgenios Ioannidis); India ‘B’ beat Switzerland 4-0 (D Gukesh beat Nico Georgiadis, Nihal Sarin beat Sebastian Bogner, R Praggnanandhaa beat Yannick Pelletier, Raunak Sadhwani beat Fabian Baenziger); India ‘C’ beat Iceland 3-1 (Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew with Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson, SP Sethurman beat Hannes Stefansson, Abhijeet Gupta beat Gudmundur Kjartansson, Abhimanyu Puranik drew with Helgi Ass Gretarsson).

Women: India ‘A’ beat England 3-1 (D Harika drew with Jovanka Houska, R Vaishali beat Katarzyna Toma, Tania Sachdev drew with Lan Yao, Bhakti Kulkarni beat Akshaya Kalaiyalahan); India ‘B’ beat Indonesia 3-1 (Vantika Agrawal beat Irine Kharisma Sukandar, Padmini Rout drew with Medina Warda Aulia, Soumya Swaminathan beat Fariha Mariroh, Mary Ann Gomes drew with Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia Citra); India ‘C’ beat Austria 2.5-1.5 (Eesha Karavade drew with Katharina Newrkla, PV Nandhidhaa beat Chiara Polterauer, M Varshini Sahithi lost to Nikola Mayrhuber, Pratyusha Bodda beat Elisabeth Hapala)