World Team Chess Championship 2017: Indian men crush Olympiad champion United States

Khanty-Mansiysk: After a difficult start that cost them two matches, the Indian men continued with their winning ways defeating Olympiad champion United States 3.5-0.5 in what was a creditable effort in the fourth round of the world teams’ chess championship. Grandmaster B Adhiban showed the way with black pieces and outwitted Varuzhan Akobian, Krishnan Sasikiran showed his golden form in crushing Ray Robson right from the opening while Parimarjan Negi showed that being out of the game for a little while hasn’t really dampened his spirits as he crushed Jeffery Xiong. [caption id=“attachment_3732263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Adhiban Baskaran at World Team Chess Championship. Image courtesy: Twitter/@ChessbaseIndia[/caption] At the top of the tables, Vidit Gujarathi played out a draw with Alexander Onischuk to complete a near whitewash of the US team. Having beaten Belarus in the previous round, the Indian men continued to climb up the ladders, taking their tally to four points out of a possible eight to grab a joint fifth in the standings. Russian men scored over Belarus by a 3-1 margin to jump into joint lead along with China that had a regulation victory over Egypt. In the shocker of the day, the Turkey team continued to impress as they beat overnight leader Poland 2.5-1.5 and now share the third spot with the Polish on six points. India shares the fifth spot with Ukraine on four points, a point clear of United States while Norway is eighth on two points, a point ahead of Belarus. Egypt men are yet to open their account and they meet the Indian team in the next round. In the women’s section, the eves also came good as they beat Poland by 2.5-1.5 margin. Padmini Rout turned out to be the star of the show as she won a fine game against Karina Szczepkowska while the other three games ended in draws. The Indian women moved to third spot following this fine victory. Russia and Ukraine share the lead in this section with seven points each while the Indian eves have five points in all. Results round 4 open: Indian beat USA (3) 3.5-0.5 (Vidit Gujarathi drew with Alexander Onischuk; Varuzhan Akobian lost to B Adhiban; Krishnan Sasikiran beat Ray Robson; Jeffery Xiong lost to Parimarjan Negi); Belarus (1) lost to Russia (7) 1-3; Poland (6) lost to Turkey (6); 1.5-2.5; Norway (2) lost to Ukraine (4) 1-3; China beat Egypt 3.5-0.5 Women: India (5) beat Poland (4) 2.5-1.5 (D Harika drew with Monica Socko; Jolanta Zawadzka drew with Tania Sachdev; Padmini Rout beat Karina Szczepkowska; Joanna Majdan-Gajewska drew wth S Vijayalakshmi); Ukraine (7) beat Vietnam (2) 3-1; Azerbaijan (4) drew with China (4) 2-2; Georgia (4) lost to Russia (7) 1.5-2.5; USA (3) beat Egypt (0) 3.5-0.5.