The Indian chess team widened its lead over defending champion China in the homestretch of the Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship organized by the UAE Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel.
India outclassed Bangladesh 2.5-1.5 to lead alone with 13 match points, ahead of China with 11 match points. A team earns two match points for a win and one match point for a draw. Game points over four boards shall break the tie.
GM B.Adhiban led the Indian charge by crushing the Reti opening of GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh in 43 moves. Indian board 4 player GM Krishnan Sasikiran followed suit and used the Queen’s Gambit to beat GM Enamul Hossain in 36 moves. Mohammad Minhaz Uddin countered for Bangladesh by outplaying S.P. Sethuraman. GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit sealed the win for India with a draw against Al Rakib Mollah Abdullah on board 3.
Indian team
China was held to a 2:2 draw by Kazakhstan, halving the point on all four boards.
In other matches, Iran beat Vietnam 3:1, Mongolia defeated Sri Lanka 3:1, Uzbekistan crushed Iraq 3:1, UAE-1 smashed Lebanon 3:1, Kyrgyzstan blanked Oman 4:0, Jordan edged Palestine 2.5-1.5, Afghanistan beat Tajikistan 3:1, UAE-2 outclassed UAE-3 by 3.5-0.5 while Kuwait drew 2:2 with Nepal.
Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Iran share third slot with 10 match points each. Uzbekistan has 9 followed by Bangladesh, UAE-1, Kyrgyzstan and Jordan with 8 apiece. Vietnam, Iraq and Sri Lanka have 7 each followed by Afghanistan, Lebanon, UAE-2 and Oman with 6 each, Palestine 4, Kuwait and Nepal 3 each, Tajikistan and UAE-3 at 2 each.
In the women’s division, Uzbekistan edged Vietnam 2.5-1.5 as WIM Irina Gevorgyan checkmated the Semi Slav defense of Nguyen Thi Mai Hung in only 28 moves while all three other boards were drawn.
The Chinese women crushed Iran 3.5-0.5, India blanked Sri Lanka 4:0, UAE-2 edged UAE-1 by 2.5-1.5 while Mongolia beat Kazkahstan 2.5-1.5.
The Uzbeks maintain solo lead with 12 match points followed closely by defending champion China with 11, Vietnam and Kazakhstan with 10 each, India with 9, Iran and Mongolia with 6 each, UAE-2 at 3, Sri Lanka with 2 and UAE-1 with 1 match point.
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