Indian men maul Mongolia, eves beat Croatia

Turin, May 24 (UNI) Bolstered with Viswanathan Anand joining the squad, Indian men's team blanked Mongolia 4-0, while Koneru Humpy led the women's team to a 2.5-.5 win against Croatia in the third round of the 37th Chess Olympiad here.

Anand, playing his first game after flying in from Sofia, beat Mongolia's cheeky, young FM Cegmed Batchuluun in 34 moves to set the tone and the Indian team came out with all guns blazing.

Against the Indian wizard, who is exactly 500 Elo points above him in the rating list, the Mongolian teenager tried everything in his arsenal but proved no match at all.

K Sasikiran then got the better of Bayarsaihan Gundavaa's defence and P Harikrishna took the game away when he beat a lowly Balgan Bayarmandah in the third match.

Mongolia put its sole GM Bazar Hatanbaatar on board four, perhaps to pick up a stray point instead of sacrificing it to Anand but national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly put paid to any such hopes and capped the team's brilliant form, taming his rival.

India, with nine points, are 1.5 point behind joint leaders Russia and China and will face Hungary in the fourth round.

The third round also saw Vladimir Kramnik's first game since the 2005 Russian Championship Superfinal. Playing with white against Arkady Naiditsch of Germany, Kramnik scored a convincing win. The Russian team won the match and now share the lead with China and Uzbekistan.

In the fourth round, Russia and China play each other which inevitably summons up the dramatic final round of the World Team Championship in Beer Sheva 2005.

Koneru Humpy, meanwhile, chalked out her third straight win in the tournament -- a feat she shares with 12-year-old Hou Yifan (China), IM Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine) and Irina Krush (US).

Playing against Croatian WGM Mirjana Medic, Humpy (2548), the highest-rated female player in the event, won her match with consummate ease but WGM Dronavalli Harika, playing with black, was held to a dull draw by WFM Lara Stock on board two.

Returning to the side, Women International Master Mary Ann Gomes then came up with a brilliant show to beat WIM Vlasta Macek and complete a 2.5-.5 win for her side.

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