Chess: Indian men, women triumph

National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and P Harikrishna scored brilliant victories to help India post a resounding 3-1 victory over Germany in the sixth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy.

After a rather subdued start, the Indian men are back into reckoning in the biggest chess event which saw top seed Russians suffering a shocking 1.5-2.5 defeat at the hands of Holland in the sixth round.

Russian National Champion Sergey Rublevsky failed to hold his ground against Dutchman Friso Nijboer.

Third seed Armenia gained lost ground as they scored a much-needed 2.5-1.5 victory over Uzbekistan by notching a win on the second board while drawing the rest of the games.

With 16.5 points, Indian men are on joint fifth position while Armenia is the sole leader with 18 points in their kitty after six rounds.

For India, world number two Viswanathan Anand and second ranked Indian player Krishnan Sasikiran achieved draws on the top two boards while Harikrishna and Ganguly scored victories over Christopher Lutz and Alexander Grafm respectively on the third and fourth board to script a grand victory.

Viswanathan Anand, on the top board could not break the ice against a solid Arkadij Naiditsch while Sasikiran's attempt to complicate against Artur Jussopow also did not materialize.

In the women's section being played simultaneously, the Indian eves yet again came out with flying colours scoring a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in their sixth round game.

Koneru Humpy drew her game playing on the top board while D Harika achieved the same result on the second.

Much was expected from National women champion Swati Ghate and she came up with yet another splendid effort to score a victory.

The Indian eves are on third spot with 13 points while Russia continues to lead the table after six rounds.

Important results, Round 6 open (Men): Netherlands (17.5) beat Russia (17) 2.5-1.5; Armenia (18) beat Uzbekistan (16) 2.5-1.5; Sweden (16.5) beat Bulgaria (15.5) 2.5-1.5; Ukraine (16.5) beat Iran (15.5) 2.5-1.5; Belarus (17) beat Spain (15) 3-1; China (15) lost to USA (16.5) 1.5-2.5; Greece (15) lost to Brazil (16) 1.5-2.5; Germany (14.5) lost to India (16.5) 1-3; Scotland (14) lost to Georgia (16) 1-3; Denmark (15.5) beat Croatia (14.5) 2.5-1.5; Slovakia (14) lost to Czech Republic (16) 1-3; Romania (14) lost to Israel (16) 1-3; Iceland (14.5) lost to Indonesia (15.5) 1.5-2.5; Switzerland (14.5) drew with Serbia & Montenegro (15) 202; Azerbaijan (13) lost to Cuba (16) 0.5-3.5.

Important results, Round 6 (Women): Russia (14.5) beat Hungary (12.5) 2-1; Spain (12) lost to Ukraine (13) 1-2; Mongolia (12) lost to USA (12) 1-2; Romania (13) beat Armenia (12) 2-1; India (13) beat Slovenia (12) 2-1; Kazakhstan (11.5) lost to Bulgaria (13) 1-2; Slovakia (13.5) beat Lithuania (10) 3-0; China (12.5) beat Poland (10.5) 2.5-0.5; Georgia (12) beat France (11) 2-1; El Salvador (10) lost to Estonia (12.5) 0.5-2.5; Germany (10.5) lost to Latvia (11.5) 1-2; Serbia & Montenegro (11) drew with Vietnam (11) 1.5-1.5; Italy A (11) drew with Cuba (10.5) 1.5-1.5; Moldova (10) lost to Israel (11) 1-2.