Photograph: Kind Courtesy SAI Media/X
Indian women crushed Uzbekistan 4-0, while the men were held to a 2-2 draw by China in the sixth round of the chess team competition in the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Against China, the top-seeded Indian men saw games on all four boards ending in draws. The country’s top player D Gukesh and Chinese GM Wei Yi played out a draw, while R Prgannanandhaa held Xiangzhi Bu on the second board.
Vidit Gujarathi and P Harikrishna, playing on boards three and four respectively, shared honours with Qun Ma and Xiangyu Xu.
India continues to occupy the second spot with 9 match points (2 match points for a win and 1 for a draw) behind Iran (10 MPs).
Third-seeded Iran had to be content with a 2-2 draw against Vietnam, while No.4 seed Uzbekistan scored a 3-1 over Mongolia.
Meanwhile, the women bounced back after a loss to China in the previous round to sweep past Uzbekistan, winning on all four boards.
The top-ranked Indian woman Koneru Humpy proved too good for Nilufar Yakkubeva and this was followed by wins for R Vaishali, Vantika Agarwal and B Savitha Shri.
Vaishali beat Umida Omonova, Agarwal beat Afruza Khamdamova and Savitha Shri defeated Mattuna Bobomurodova.
The second-seeded Indian women is in second spot in the standings with 8 match points. The top-seeded Chinese team outclassed Vietnam 3.5-0.5 to remain on top with 9 match points.
