Istanbul Chess Olympiad R2: India Men Beat Turkey 3-1; Indian Women Beat Australia 3.5-0.5

Indian star leader
GM Krishnan Sasikiran

Indian chess teams chalked up their second straight wins in the second round at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad on Wednesday in both the open and women's sections. 

On Board 13, India beat Turkey 3-1. GM Krishnan Sasikiran beat IM Burak Firat and GM Abhijeet Gupta beat CM Vahap Sanal. GM Parimarjan Negi picked up a draw against FM Ali Marandi and GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan drew with CM Dastan Muhammed Batuhan. 

None other than one of
Asia's greatest women
chess players -
WIM Rani Hamid
playing for Bangladesh

On Board 6, in the women's section, India beat Australia 3.5 to 0.5. IM Eesha Sanjay Karawade, IM Tania Sachdev and WGM Mary Ann Gomes picked up wins over WIM Arianne Caoili, Sally Yu and Giang Nguyen. WGM Soumya Swaminathan drew with WIM Bijana Novakovic-Dekic. 

Meanwhile, on the top boards, Ukraine, the defending champion defeated Qatar with a 3-1 score despite the loss by first board GM Vassily Ivanchuk to GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki. Ivanchuk was slightly better with black but he carelessly allowed the enemy queen to sneak into the back rank. Ivanchuk immediately resigned, declining attempts to seek compensation for the piece. The United States beat Lithuania 3.5-0.5 after Hikaru Nakamura finally broke down the stubborn resistance of Grecian GM Vidmantas Malisauskas in a marathon 107-moves long game. Azerbaijan had no difficulty dispatching their Irish opponents, however the young talent FM Ryan Rhys Griffiths managed to steal the only draw for his team in the game against the seasoned Azeri GM Rauf Mamedov.

France defeated Peru 3-1. Poland beat Costa Rica 4-0, while China took 3.5 points against Italy with Wang Hao defeating the young Italian-American phenom Fabiano Caruana on the top board.

Russia allowed two quick draws against Greece, but they continued pushing with the white pieces on the remaining two boards. Both Grischuk and Jakovenko were successful and Russia finished the day with a 3-1 victory. England defeated Brazil by a narrow margin thanks to the full point of Nigel Short, while the remaining three games were drawn. The same scenario was in Germany - Georgia, only this time the executioner was Arkadij Naiditsch.

Intensity of thought:
12th Women's World Chess
Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
for defending champions Russia

Multiple teams in the Women's section swept past their opponents with perfect scores - China beat Sweden, while leaving the World Champion Hou Yifan on the bench for the second day in a row; Georgia vs Belgium; and Poland vs Venezuela. In a stunning game, Brazilian WFM Vanessa Feliciano Ebert held European champion Valentina Gunina to a draw but it was not enough to help her team as Brazil fell to the Russian ladies 3.5-0.5. Former U.S. Chess Champion Anna Zatonskih rested today while her team mates beat Estonia 3.5-0.5. Bulgarians drew with lower-seeded Indonesians. Slovenia, led by Anna Muzychuk beat The Philippines 2.5-1.5.

Excellent and detailed coverage along with live games starts on the official website at India time 5.30 pm. 

Posted in: alexandra kosteniuk,istanbul chess olympiad 2012,krishnan sasikiran,rani hamid