India 'B' draws with Azerbaijan; India 'A', 'C' register wins

MAMALLAPURAM: India 'B' played out a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijan in the 9th round of the open section, while India 'A' and 'C' teams registered identical 3-1 wins in the 44th Chess Olympiad here on Sunday.

Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh saw his winning streak come to a halt after he drew his top board game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov after having notched up eight victories on the trot.

His sensational run included wins over world No.5 Fabiano Caruana and former world championship challenger Alexei Shirov.

Gukesh's fellow teenaged GM R Praggnanandhaa did the star turn for India 'B' against Azerbaijan, beating Vasif Durarbayli in 66 moves.

Raunak Sadhwani went down to Nijat Abasov, while Nihal Sarin drew with Rauf Mamedov.

India 'A' defeated Brazil 3-1, while India 'C' beat Paraguay by a similar margin. Young GM Arjun Erigaisi and K Sasikiran starred for India 'A' with wins over Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian and Andre Diamant respectively.

Meanwhile, leaders Armenia were surprised by Uzbekistan who posted a 3-1 win. Armenia's defeat leaves the field open with Uzbekistan climbing to the top position.

In the women's section, the top-seeded India 'A' were handed a 2.5-1.5 defeat by fourth-seeded Poland, while No.2 seed Ukraine and No.3 seed Georgia played out a 2-2 draw.

Georgia caught up with India 'A' with 15 match points, while Ukraine lies one point behind.

The two other Indian teams -- 'B' and 'C' were on the winning side, thrashing Switzerland 4-0 and Estonia 3-1 respectively.

Results: India's matches: Open: India 'A' beat Brazil 3-1 (P Harikrishna drew to Param Maghdoodloo, Vidit S Gujrathi drew with Alexandr Fier, Arjun Erigaisi beat Krikov Sevag Mekhitarian, K Sasikiran beat Andre Diamant).

India 'B' drew with Azerbaijan 2-2 (D Gukesh drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Nihal Sarin drew with Rauf Mamedov, R Praggnanandhaa beat Vasif Durarbayli, Raunak Sadhwani lost to Nijat Abasov).

India 'C' beat Paraguay 3-1 (Surya Shekhar Ganguly lost to Axel Bachmann, S P Sethuraman beat Rami Delgado, Karthikeyan Murali beat Jose Fernando Cubas, Abhimanyu Puranik beat M Ruben D Zacarias).

Women: India 'A' lost to Poland 1.5-2.5 (Koneru Humpy drew with Alina Kashlinskaya, D Harika drew with Monika Socko, Oliwia Kiolbasa beat R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev drew with Maria Malicka).

India 'B' beat Switzerland 4-0 (Vantika Agrawal beat Lena Georgescu, Padmini Rout beat Ghazal Hakimifard, Mary Ann Gomes beat Gundula Heinatz, Divya Deshmukh beat Camille De Seroux). India 'C' beat Estonia 3-1 (Easha Karavade drew with Mai Narva, P V Nandhidhaa beat Margareth Olde, Varshini Sahiti beat Anastassia Sinisina, Vishwa Vasnawala drew with Sofia Blokhin).