Chess Olympiad: Indian men hold second seed Russia; women draw with US

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand helped Indian men hold second seeds Russia to a draw in the sixth round of the 43rd Chess Olympiad here Sunday.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand helped Indian men hold second seeds Russia to a draw in the sixth round of the 43rd Chess Olympiad here Sunday.

Anand was in a much worse position according to computer assessment and this was the day when the machine was proven wrong as the Indian ace came up with a brilliant counter-attack to hold Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw on the top board.

While the Russians had figured their chances on the top board, P Harikrishna held mighty Vladimir Kramnik to a draw on the second board while Vidit Gujrathi and B Adhiban drew with Nikita Vituigov and Dmitry Jakovenko on the last two boards to restore parity.

The Indian women came almost close to beating sole leaders the United States but eventually had to settle for a draw.

Koneru Humpy and Tania Sachdev did the trick on board one and three playing white by winning their respective games but black pieces seemed a curse on the day as D Harika and Eesha Karavade suffered a defeat to let the USA remain in the joint lead.

With fives rounds still to come, Azerbaijan and Poland lead the open section displaying superlative efforts.

Azerbaijan and Poland defeated the Czech Republic and Ukraine respectively. Azerbaijan trounced Czech Republic 3-1 while Ukraine was aided by a fine victory from Radoslav Wojtazsek to score 2.5-1.5 over Ukraine.

In the women's section, the top seed Russian lost again, going down to Armenia which makes it now a virtual lottery as Chinese women were also seen struggling in this round.

Important and Results after Round 6:

Open: Azerbaijan (12) beat the Czech Republic (10) 3-1; Poland (12) vs Ukraine (10) 2.5-1.5; Israel (9) vs Germany (9); Iran (8) lost to China (10) 1.5-2.5; Russia (9) drew with India (9) 2-2 (Ian Nepomniachtchi drew with V Anand, P Harikrishna drew with V Kramnik, Nikita Vituigov drew with Vidit Gujrathi, B Adhiban drew with Dmitry Jakovenko).

Women: India (10) drew with the United States of America (11) Koneru Humpy beat Anna Zatonsikh, Irina Krush beat D Harika, Tania Sachdev beat T Abrahamev,Jennifer Yu.

(With inputs from agencies.)