Resounding start by the Indians in Chess

Doha, Dec 2(UNI) Grand Master duo of P Harikrishna and Koneru made the right moves as the Indian woodpushers, expectedly, began their campaign in chess with resounding victories on day one of the 15th Asian Games' chess competition here today.

Their domination was expected as they are top-rated in both the men's and women's sections due to their high Elo ratings.

The format here is Rapid Swiss, different from the classic format, and time pressure will, in course of the meet, become a major hurdle to cross.

In the first round of the men's category, K Sasikiran played a safe draw with IM Imad Haki of Syria before pushed to another draw with GM Elshan Moradibadi of Iran.

That Harikrishna wasn't in the best moodfor a rapid game was clear when he played out another draw, this time with IM Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh.

Despite Sasikiran's average show, as a team, India fared well with the other member, GM Pentalya Harikrishna, playing superb chess. He beat Fide Master Batchuluun Tsegmed of Mongolia in the first round before following it up with a regulation draw versus IM Hasan al-Hammadi Abdulla of the UAE.

Even a third draw, with a none-too-demanding Shinya Kojima of Japan, has kept the balance intact for India.

The women section saw top-rated Grandmaster Koneru Humpy have it pretty easy. She is the only women here with a men's Grandmaster title -- Hungarian Judit Polgar is the top rated in the world -- and her win over Samima Akter of Bangladesh showed it.

She took care of WGM Aguyen An Thi Tanh of Vietnam in round two before settling for a regulation draw with WIM Olga Sabirova of Uzbekistan.

Humpy's was a good first round win despite playing with black and later she said she felt ''comfortable'' with it, while Harikrishna said he was able to take advantage of his opponents missing some good moves.

UNI HSB AY RK2301