Kunte strikes as India
move to fifth position

A smashing win by Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte propelled India to victory over the Czech Republic and a joint-fifth place after an exciting ninth round in the 35th Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia.

India's women's team too had a fine day as it crushed Belarus 2.5-0.5 to move to joint-sixth place on 17 points.

The round also saw holders and hot favourites Russia succumb to their first defeat in the Olympiad. Defending champions for a decade, Russia went down 2.5-1.5 to second seeds Hungary.

But the win did not help the victors take the lead as Russia maintained their top position with 25.5 points from 36 games played so far. Hungary are a close second on 25 points while China and Georgia shar the third position on 24 points each.

Elevating itself to a remarkable joint fifth position, along with England and Croatia, was the Indian men's team. Former national champion, Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte took charge of the demolition act from Surya Shekhar Ganguly and led the team to a comfortable 2.5-1.5 victory over their 17th seed rivals.

In the women's section, Georgian supremacy continued with another 3-0 wipeout of the opposition. On the receiving end were Romania that fell apart against a determined opposition.

Georgia has so far tallied 22 points from 27 games and has a huge three-point lead over defending champions China.

Kunte did what he is best at -- outclassing Navara David tactically. Starting off as black on the third board, the opening choice was a Sicilian Paulsen by Kunte and David chalked out complications in the Fianchetto variations by rolling his king side pawns pretty early in the middle game.

Looking for some worthwhile counterplay, Kunte gave up his right to tle and entangled David in sheer complexities of the game with a fantastic pawn thrust in the centre that netted him a Rook against a minor piece.

With fewer pawns left on the board, Abhijit had to be very precise in his calculations. At one point of time, Abhijit was down to last ten seconds on his clock but in the end his determination paid off. The game lasted 57 moves.

Kunte said later, "It was a complicated game but somehow I managed it in time pressure."

The remaining three boards saw Indian players draw but not without bloodshed.

Playing black against Grandmaster Zbynek Hracek on the top board, GM Krishnan Sasikiran opened with the Sicilia Nazdorf and had little trouble in equalising with black pieces.

Looking for ways to complicate matters, Sasikiran embarked on a rather dubious plan that troubled him a little in the resulting middle game.

Hracek, however, could not devise the best attacking plan and had to be content with a draw after 43 moves.

On the second board GM Pendyala Harkrishan continued with his solid play and drew with higher rated GM Vlastimil Babula with white pieces.

It was the Chelyabinsk variation in the Slav defence that did not give many chances to Harikrishna and Babula steered the game to a level territory quite easily in the middle game. The peace treaty was signed after 26 moves.

International Master R B Ramesh tried hard on the fourth board with white pieces. Playing against Tomas Oral, Ramesh faced the Sicilian Paulsen and got a slight advantage after the opening.

Tomas sacrificed a pawn in the middle game and exchanged a handful of pieces to land in a rook and pawns endgame with sufficient drawing chances.

The Indian women displayed top form on the first two boards, where woman Grandmaster S Vijayalakshmi and her younger sister S Meenakshi scored over Lagvilava Genrieta and WIM Tetenkina Irina respectively.

Of the two, Meenakshi was brilliant getting past her opponent in just 25 moves.

However, on the third board Swati Ghate missed some winning chances and had to settle for a draw against WIM Popova Natalija who played black.

In the next round the Indian men will take on England while the women will play against Russia.

Earlier reports:
Round 8: Sasikiran, Ganguly shine
Round 7: Thumping wins for Indian men and women
Round 6: Indian men win, women draw
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