India castles China 3-0, maintains lead for Chess Gold

Doha, Dec 10 (UNI) India inched closer towards a chess Gold after the GM trio of K Sasikiran, Koneru Humpy and P Harikrishna mowed down their Chinese rivals to give India a thumping 3-0 win in the fourth round of the mixed team's classical swiss event in the 15th Asian Games here today.

With this win, India now top the table with 13 points -- extending lead over nearest rival Qatar to 2.5 points.

P Harikrishna had a score to settle with his Chinese opponent Wang Yue and the Indian Grandmaster succeeded in his mission when he tamed his opponent. This was a sweet revenge for Harikrishna who had gone down to Yue in the sixth round of men's rapid swiss round.

Pitted against Bu Xiangzhi, K Sasikiran too made the right moves to take the wind of his rival's sail and walk away with a win.

Like Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy too had to prove something against WGM Zhao Xue, who had beaten the Indian in the sixth round of women's rapid swiss event.

Humpy was in an attacking mood right from the beginning and she ensured that the noose has no loose end as she crashed through her opponent's defence to complete the rout.

In the earlier rounds, India had beaten Mongolia 2.5-0.5, blanked Turkmenistan 3-0, edged out Qatar 2-1 and conquered Vietnam 2.5-0.5.

UNI HSB AY RR RN2139