Indian men win, women draw
in chess Olympiad

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran roared back to form with a superb victory in the top board to help the Indian men's team register an emphatic 3-1 victory over Bolivia in the sixth round of the 35th Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia, on Friday.

In the women's section India fought back from behind to manage a 1.5-1.5 draw against Cuba in a round six match.

Defending champions Russia, playing without their best player Gary Kasparov, established themselves as sole leaders after drubbing overnight leaders Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.5-0.5.

With 18.5 points in their kitty, title favourites Russia are 1.5 points clear of second-placed Rominia and Poland.

The sweeping run of former champions Georgia in the women's section continued as they blanked The Netherlands 3-0 for their second successive comprehensive victory after humbling India in the previous round.

Georgia widened their lead to 1.5 points with the victory and appeared to be training their sights on the gold they lost to China in 1998. The Russian girls hold the second position on 13.5 points.

After suffering two consecutive losses in previous outings in the competition, Sasikiran played a briliant game with black pieces to outwit Osvaldo Zambrana and set the tempo for an Indian victory.

Starting with his pet Caro Kann defence, Sasikiran faced the sharp advance pawn variation by Zambrana as the game went to theoretical lines.

Homework paid high dividends in this game as Sasikiran produced a relatively new idea in the early part of middle game and succeeded in shattering white's king position with a forced tactical sequence of moves that netted him a pawn in the ensuing endgame.

The techncal part was again handled perfectly and the Indian coasted to an impressive victory after 42 moves.

"The entire set-up was a part of my preparation," Sasikiran said after the game.

On the second board Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna was unlucky to go down to Johnny Chajtur Cuito with white pieces. Up against a Phillidor defence, Harikrishna got a good position out of the opening but was prompted for more as Cuito invited him to launch a direct attack against the king.

Cuito steadily deployed all his forces on right squares and soon the extra piece had a telling effect as Harikrishna resigned after 51 moves.

"There were perpectual checks and perhaps Hari should have played for a draw," said Grandmaster Evgeny Vladimirov of Kazakhstan, who is the coach of Indian men's team.

Playing white against Sustach Marcos Anton on the third board, International Master Surya Shekhar Ganguly had little troubles in making the most of a tiny advantage with black pieces.

Earlier the players fought a "simplifying battle" from an English opening and Ganguly seized the only open file with his rook to dominate the proceedings which forced Anton to resign after 53 moves.

Boris Ferrufino proved no match for British champion IM R B Ramesh, who played white on the fourth board. Playing against a rarely played Sicilian variation, Ramesh kept a firm control in the centre right till the end and succeeded in winning a pawn that proved crucial in the endgame.

The formalities were completed in 42 moves as Ferrufino blundered a piece.

"His king was caught in the centre and it was easy after that," Ramesh said after the game.

In the women's section, India paid the price for resting prolific Women Grandmaster S Vijayalakshmi as her sister Meenakshi went down to Arribas Robain Maritza on the top board.

The white pieces failed to yield much to Meenakshi and her position worsened once she went strategically wrong in the middle game. Maritza won a pawn and romped home in 47 moves.

Pina Vega Sulennis drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy who was certainly lucky to salvage a lost endgame.

Playing black Aarthie lost a pawn amidst wild complications arising out of Rossolimo attack but Sulennis missed her chances a few times before eventually settling for peace.

India's only victory came in the final board through Swati Ghate when she beat Ramon Pita Vivian quite easily with white pieces.

It was a Scotch opening that gave Swati substantial space advantage and she improved her position by leaps and bounds during the game to register a smooth win in 49 moves.

Earlier reports:
Round 5: Bad day for India
Round 4: Indian teams back to winning ways
Round 3: Indian men falter against Russia
Round 2: India continue good showing at Chess Olympiad
Round 1: Indians off to a winning start at Chess Olympiad