India's winning streak continues in Chess Olympiad

Chennai: The Indian open and women’s teams defeated Canada and Denmark respectively with a similar scoreline of 3.5-0.5 in the second round of the 41st World Chess Olympiad being played in the Norwegian city of Tromse on Sunday. Both the Indian’s teams had their highest rated players - GMs K.Sasikiran and Harika Dronavalli respectively playing in the second round. The players who were rested for the second round were GM Lalith Babu M.R. in the open section and Padmini Rout in the women’s team. [caption id=“attachment_1648155” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image: Reuters[/caption] Pulling up his socks after a lucky draw in the first round, Indian GM Parimarjan Negi on the first board playing white was in control of the game against Canadian GM Anton Kovalyov unlike the previous round where he escaped with a draw. Around the 30th move, Negi gained an advantageous position and on the 33rd move he was a piece up. With some routine moves, Negi won the game in 47 moves. Getting into the fray after resting out in the first round, Sasikiran packed off the Canadian IM Leonid Gerzhoy on the third board in 42 moves. On the second board, GM S.P.Sethuraman drew with GM Eric Hansen on equal position while GM B.Adhiban overcame GM Bator Sambuev in 63 moves. Starting the round in a confident fashion, the fifth seeded Indian eves did not face much difficulty from the Denmark team. On the top board, playing white, Dronavalli enjoyed an advantageous position against Sandra De Blecourt from the initial stages of the game and she slowly built on that to score a victory. The fight between India’s Tania Sachdev in the second board against Esmat Guindy ended in a draw. The third and fourth board saw Indian women Eesha Karavade and Women Grandmaster (WGM) Mary Ann Gomes winning fluently against their opponents. The day’s biggest upset was the loss of Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk (2744 rating points) to Norway’s International Master (IM) Frode Urkedal in just 29 moves. Big guns in the open section like World Champion and home country star Magnus Carlsen, Armenia’s Levon Aronian and USA’s Gata Kamsky had to settle for a draw against their opponents.