Indian women win against Bulgaria, men lose to France

Dresden, Germany, Nov 21 (UNI) It was a day of mixed fortune for India as the women's team defeated Bulgaria to move up to joint third while their male counterparts lost to France in the seventh round at the 32nd Chess Olympiad here.

With this loss, Indian men slipped to the tied 10th position while women climb to joint third spot with 11 points and will meet Serbia in the next round.

Asian women's champion Tania Sachdev and Asian junior girls' winner Mary Ann Gomes helped India women to a 2.5-1.5 victory over Bulgaria.

D Harika held former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova on the top board and Swati Ghate's defeat on the third board to Margarita Voiska did not deter the Indians much as Mary Ann continued with her dream run to beat Raeva Elitsa on the fourth board.

The Indian men went down 1.5-2.5 to France after Grandmaster P Harikrishna lost to the Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

GM Krishnan Sasikiran, on the top board, played out a draw with Etienne Bacrot while on the third and fourth tables Surya Shekhar Ganguly and GN Gopal carved out similar results against Laurent Fressinet and Vladislav Tkachiev.

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