Men: India Holds China

Hosts and defending champion India Reds held top seed and many-time champions China to a 2-2 draw in the fourth round of the Asian Team Championship happening at Visakhapatnam in India on January 6.

China leads this 8-team all-play-all on four boards with 11.5/16. India is in second position with 11 points, followed by Iran 10.5 and Uzbekistan 9.5. Three rounds remain to be played. The event concludes on January 9. China and India have to play one of the two easy teams each.

India Reds and China split the points on all four boards with Sasikiran-Wang Yue, Ganguly-Bu Xiangzhi, Kunte-Wang Hao, Abhijeet Gupta-Zhou Jianchao playing draws.

Our India Blues swept Sri Lanka 3.5-0.5 with only Arun Prasad offering and getting a draw against Russell in a defensive position on the third board. Deepan, Rohit and Mokal
overcame their Lankan opponents.

Links to this event which is taking place at Visakhapatnam in India can be seen at www.fide.com  or www.chess-results.com  and selecting Asian Team Championship. Games can be downloaded at www.delhichess.com

The results (round four): Afganistan lost to Uzbekistan 0-4, India Reds drew China 2-2, Iran lost to Vietnam 1.5-2.5, India Blues bt Sri Lanka 3.5-0.5.

Standings: 1 China 11.5/16, 2 India 11, 3 Iran 10.5, 4 Uzbekistan 9.5, 5 India Blues 9, 6 Vietnam 8.5, 7 Afganistan 2.5, 8 Sri Lanka 1.5.

Women: India Leads

Powered by reserve player Aarthie Ramaswamy's 4/4 score, second seed India Reds is leading the Asian Team Chess Championship for women ahead of top seeds and favourites China with
11.5/12. China is closely behind with 11 points.

In a 8-team all-play-all, India Reds and China are yet to meet. It is a match on three boards with one reserve player. Six nations are competing with India fielding Reds, Blues  and Green. On January 6, India blanked Sri Lanka 3-0 and China did the same to Uzbekistan.

India Red scores in board order: D.Harika 1.5/2, Nisha Mohota 3/3, Tania Sachdev 3/3. Aarthie Ramaswamy 4/4. India Reds face Iran, China and Vietnam in the next three rounds.

Placings after four rounds: India Reds 11.5/12, China 11, Vietnam, Iran 8, Iran 7, Uzbekistan 4.5, India Blues 4, India Greens 2, Sri Lanka 0.

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