Open ‘A’, ‘B’ teams win; Women’s ‘A’ side’s victory continues

CHENNAI: The India ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams registered comprehensive seventh-round victories in the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mahabalipuram near here on Friday.

In the Women’s section, India ‘A’ won by a 2.5-1.5 margin against the sixth-seeded Azerbaijan despite Koneru Humpy losing on the top board. With its seventh successive victory, India ‘A’ remains in the first place with 14 points. In the Open event, Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan secured wins over Abhijeet Gupta and Abhimanyu Puranik respectively as India ‘A’, the second seed, outclassed India ‘C’ 3-1. Teenage GM D Gukesh continued his dream run, notching up a seventh straight win and beating Carlos Albornoz Cabrera to help India ‘B’ earn a 3.5-0.5 victory over Cuba.

It is the sixth win from seven rounds for the ‘B’ team, which also includes R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, B Adhiban and Raunak Sadhwani. In another setback for the star-studded USA, Armenia held it to a 2-2 draw, continuing at the top of the Open tally with 13 points. India ‘A’, India ‘B’, the USA and Uzbekistan have 12 points each.

In the Women’s section, India ‘A’, the top seed, saw its best player Humpy go down to Gunay Mammadzada of Azerbaijan. D Harika drew with Khanim Balajayeva before Tania Sachdev and R Vaishali defeated Ulviyya Fataliyeva and Govhar Beydullayeva respectively to set up a 2.5-1.5 win.

The India ‘B’ team lost 1.5-2.5 to Greece as Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan suffered defeats even as the host’s ‘C’ side got the better of Switzerland 3-1, riding on wins from Eesha Karavade and PV Nandhidhaa.

RESULTS (INDIA ONLY):

Open: India ‘A’ beat India ‘C’ 3-1 (P Harikrishna drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Vidit Gujrathi drew with SP Sethuraman, Arjun Erigaisi beat Abhijeet Gupta, SL Narayanan beat Abhimanyu Puranik); India ‘B’ beat Cuba 3.5-0.5 (D Gukesh beat Carlos Albornoz Cabrera, Nihal Sarin beat Luis Ernesto, R Praggnanandhaa beat Isan Reynaldo, B Adhiban drew with Omar Almeida Quintana).

Women: India ‘A’ beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5 (Koneru Humpy lost to Gunay Mammadzada, D Harika drew with Khanim Balajayeva, R Vaishali beat Govhar Beydullayeva, Tania Sachdev beat Ulviyya Fataliyeva); India ‘B’ lost to Greece 1.5-2.5 (Vantika Agrawal lost to Stavroula Tsolakidou, Soumya Swaminathan lost to Anastasia Avramidou, Mary Ann Gomes drew with Ekaterini Pavlidou, Divya Deshmukh beat Haritomeni Markantonaki); India ‘C’ beat Switzerland 3-1 (Eesha Karavade beat Lena Georgescu, PV Nandhidhaa beat Ghazal Hakimifard, Pratyusha Bodda drew with Gundula Heinatz, Vishwa Vasnawala drew with Laura Stoeri).