Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championships, Kolkata 2009
R. Anantharam - Chief Arbiter

While India A men met with little resistance in capturing the Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship, their B team women counterparts were instrumental in Vietnam clinching the women championship. The tournament was well organized by Dibyendu Barua, the second grandmaster from India after Anand, under the banner of Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy at the Town hall, Kokata, the most populous city in India.

The A team was represented by grandmasters P. Harikrishna, Sasikiran, S.S. Ganguly, Parimarjan Negi and Deepan Chakkaravarthy. They defeated the B team in the second round 3.5-0, the only consolation draw coming from the national champion IM B. Adhiban holding the top ranked player of the tournament P. Harikrishna. Iran drew with the strong Vietnam team, GM Ghaem Maghami doing a favour to Iran by beating the in form GM Le Quang Liem, the winner of the recent Kolkata open.

India A beat Indonesia convincingly 3.5-0.5 in the third round. Iran and Vietnam also registered facile wins in this round, predicting a 1-2-3 finish among these three teams. In the crucial fourth round tie with Vietnam, Harikrishna surrendered to Le Quang, but Sasikiran and Ganguly came to India’s rescue with full points. Parimarjan Negi drew with Nguyen Anh Dung to make the score 2.5-1.5 in India’s favour. After beating Iran comfortably by a margin of 3.5-0.5 in the fifth round, India did not sweat much to claim the title with 14 match points. Vietnam and Iran were placed second and third

The story was different in the women section. In the third round, India A was forced to split the points with the Vietnam team. Former and current world junior champions D. Harika and Soumya Swaminathan scored over their opponents, whereas Eesha Karavade and Sowmya Swaminathan fumbled at the post to lose their games. To make things worse for the A team, the India B team inflicted a defeat on them, Bhakti Kulkarni defeating Kruttika Nadig and the other three games were drawn. This brightened the chances of the Vietnam team to win the title. Vietnam continued their good run until the final round to lift the title. Anyhow, there was a tense battle in the second match of the final round between India B and Iran to decide the medalists.

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