Outlook , India
May 29 2006
Indian men, women suffer defeat
>From Our Chess Correspondent Turin (Italy), May 29 (PTI) Indian men
suffered their second defeat in the Chess Olympiad going down to
defending champion Ukraine in the seventh round while their women
counterparts were outdone by United States in quick time here.
After Viswanathan Anand drew with former World championship
challenger Vassily Ivanchuk on the top board, Grandmaster Krishnan
Sasikiran also signed peace pact besides GM Sandipan Chanda.
But a shocking loss on the third board by former world junior
champion P Harikrishna cost dearly to the Indians as they lost by a
narrow 1.5-2.5 margin in the end.
Overnight sole leader Armenia had it easy with a 3-1 victory over
giant killer Netherlands with a 3-1 margin in this round, the Russian
men were sitting pretty with a 3-0 score and one game in hand against
Belarus.
The Indian women had a bad day for the first time in the women’s
Olympiad, being played simultaneously, as they were thrashed by the
US by a huge 0.5-2.5 margin.
The loss for the Indian eves – worried by health problem of Koneru
Humpy — was really shocking as they had been doing quite well so far
in the event. Humpy was rested for the first time in the Olympiad
while Swati Ghate and Mary Ann Gomes also cited health problems.