Sweet and sour experience for India in 8th round of Olympiad

Turin, Italy, May 30 (UNI) It was a mixed day for India as men managed wins for their side in the 8th Round match of the Chess Olympiad, being played here, but women again disappointed.

Grandmaster Viswanthan Anand drew his game against Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria while Indian hopes in the women section crashed to ground when the Golden Girl of Chess, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, failed in her efforts and lost the game to Armenia's L Mkrtchian.

Playing with black, Anand decided to reply with Nf6 to his Bulgarian opponent opening of d4 and after the set moves the game was fought on Nimzo Indian, Three Knights variation.

Anand as usual played a good game, however Georgiev has come well prepared to give a good fight to World No 2 and very cautiously moved his pieces and did not give any opportunity to the Indian to clinch the game.

Once the Queen's got exchanged, there was hardly any opportunity for Anand to take the game and therefore graciously accepted his opponents offer for a draw.

Meanwhile, both Sasikiran and Sandipan Chanda played some technically superior games to outclass their Bulgarian opponent.

Chanda, who lost his first round game unexpectedly against Morocco, came determined to win. Right from the begining, he played some good moves but his opponent Spasov Vasil defended well and took the game towards an eventual draw. However in the end, Bulgarian committed a mistake and lost the game.

''Today I came well prepared . My opponent also played very well but I kept on attacking. In the end, it looked that the game is going for a draw, however, luckily my opponent committed a mistake and I won the game'' Chanda told UNI immediately after his victory.

In the women setion, Humpy, playing with white and having opening advantage, some how lost the opportunity and complicated her game to the extent that in the end despite trying hard to save the game, had to accept defeat from Mkrtchian.

Harika Dronavilli also lost her game against L Danielian.

The only grace was Swati Ghate's well earned victory againt lowly rated Andriasian on the last board.

Armenia defeated Cuba by a big margin and with 24 points is leading the Olympiad. The defending champions Russia is left behind on the 2nd place with 22 points when they drew their match with Czech Repoublic.

India with 20.5 points is joint 6th with Uzbekistan and Cuba.

Results of Round 8:-- Cuba (20.5) lost to Armenia(24) 1-3; Czech Republic(21) drew Russia(22) 2-2, Uzbekistan(20.5) lost to Georgia(21.5) 1.5-2.5; Sweden(19.5) lost to Ukraine(22) 1-3; France(21.5) beat Netherlands (19.5) 3-1; Denmark(19.5) lost to US(21.5) 1-3; Belarus(19.5) lost to Germany(21) 1.5-2.5; China(21.5) beat Phillipines(18.5) 3.5-0.5; Bulgaria(19.5) lost to India(20.5) 1.5-2.5; Slovenia(20) beat Greece(19.5) 2.5-1.5.

Women's results of Round 8:-- Russia(19) drew US(17) 1.5-1.5; Hungary(16) lost to Ukraine(18.5) 1-2; Georgia (16.5) drew Bulgaria(16) 1.5-1.5; Vietnam(16) beat Slovenia(15.5) 2-1; China(17) beat Latvia(14) 3-0; Romania(15) drew France(15) 1.5-1.5; India(14.5) lost to Armenia(15.5) 1-2; Germany(15.5) beat Slovakia(14.5) 2-1; Cuba(15) beat Estonia(14) 2-1; Netherlands(14) lost Belarus(15) 1-2; Switzerland(13) lost to Poland(15) 0.5-2.5.

UNI XC VJ KN0816