Times of India, India
Nov 30 2008

India defeat Armenia to take lead
30 Nov 2008, 2257 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The Indian junior team defeated Armenia 2.5-1.5 in the
first match to take a 1-0 lead at the India-Armenia Friendship chess
tournament at Russian Center For Science and Culture on Sunday.

World Junior Champion Abhijeet Gupta and B Adhiban turned out to be
the winner amongst Indians, defeating 2006 world junior champion Zaven
Andriasian and Samvel Ter Sahakyan respectively on the top and fourth
board.

Grandmaster S Arun Prasad played out a draw with GM Hrant Melkumyan to
ensure an Indian victory after G Rohti was outdone by GM Avetik
Grigoryan on the third board.

The Indians, slightly inferior in terms of average ratings, got a 1-0
lead in the three match contest and the Armenians are expected to hit
back harder in the next match on Monday.

Displaying the form he possessed in his world junior triumph, Abhijeet
bruised and squeezed the defenses of Andriasian on the top board in a
Sicilian defense game.

The Armenian was at sea once Abhijeet got his attack rolling on the
queen side against white’s king and even though Andriasian sacrificed
an exchange, the Indian was simply remorseless. The dye was cast on
the 29th move when Abhijeet initiated the final assault and nine moves
later India scored first victory in the match.

In the another game, Adhiban played true to his attacking style in a
Sicilian Scheveningen defense game where Sahakyan was outdone in the
middle game. Taking a cue from an earlier played game, Adhiban went
for a less played system on the 17th move and Sahakyan took a lot of
time to determine his course of action.