Women beat Georgia, men put in strong performance to beat ChinaIt's one thing to play 20 moves in one minute for a draw and quite another to play those many in time trouble for a win. For, fast moves for equality can be attained if the position demands principled play. But putting together a sequence of good-enough moves to punch down a tenacious opponent is that much difficult because thoughts and nerves come into play in far bigger tides and can impede your plan.
But Vantika Agrawal, playing with black pieces, was up to the task and defeated Bella Khotenashvili of Georgia for a pivotal win in the women's section of Chess Olympiad at Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday. Her full point helped India beat Georgia 3-1 for their second win in successive Olympiads.
Chinese men needed to beat India to overtake the joint leaders but the latter prevailed 2.5-1.5. D Gukesh defeated Wei Yi in a marathon 80-move clash to give India the win. The rest of the games ended in a draw.
Vantika won in 46 moves in the Saemisch variation in the Nimzo Indian of uncastled kings. Bella had to take Vanitka's powerful knight for a rook in the endgame involving two rooks, knight and three pawns each. Earlier, Divya Deshmukh could only get a draw after 30 moves in the Ruy Lopez Closed game against Nino Batsiashvili. She had only five minutes to make 12 moves to make the first time control.
In the Lela Javakhisvili vs Vaishali game of Exchange variation in Grunfeld defence, the Indian won in 62 moves. The game between D Harika and Nana Dzagnidze on the top board-in the Alekhine variation in Queens Gambit Declined- was drawn after 59 moves in pawns and opposite-coloured bishops endgame.
For the first time in this edition, the Indian women were stealing a march over the men's team.
For men, R Praggnanandhaa, playing with black pieces, held Yu Yangyi to a 17-move draw after the threefold repetition. It didn't develop into much of a battle although they played the Development Variation in Queens Gambit Accepted.
Arjun Erigaisi got a cue from Pragg. In the Nimzovich attack in Petroff defence, the optimistic Indian fans were smelling a win against Bu as the Chinese took almost 25 minutes on the 23rd move. But the players repeated the position thrice to sign the peace treaty after 26 moves.
P Harikrishna, playing in place of Vidit Gujrathi, on the fourth board settled for a draw with Wang Yue.
Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
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