India moves into sole lead in the Asian Team Championship, shares lead with Vietnam in the Women's section  By Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua

Wins on three boards against Indonesia gave India "A" sole lead after three rounds in the Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship at Town Hall, Kolkata here today. India "A" lead with 6 match points followed by Vietnam and Iran at 5 match points each. In the crucial fourth round match, top seeds India "A" now takes on all GM Vietnam team tomorrow. Grandmaster Harikrishna gave India "A" the head start scoring a fine win over GM Megaranto Susanto, Ganguly finished his game next holding Indonesian FIDE Master Novita Anjas to a draw. In long hard fought games, GMs Krishnan Sasikiran and Deepan Chakkravarthy defeated their lower rated opponents to give India 'A" a massive 3.5-0.5 victory.

Iran led by GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan kept themselves within striking distance with the leaders scoring a similar 3.5-0.5 in the third table. While Maghami held off GM Wu Shaobin to a draw in the first board, the Iranians striked heavily in the next three scoring an important victory over Singapore.

In the women's section, India "A" and Vietnam shared the lead with 5 match points, thanks to a hard fought 2-2 draw in the top board today. While IMs Harika and Tania got India the full point in the first and third board, Vietnam girls scored over Indian WGMs Eesha and Soumya in the second and fourth boards to even the score. With four rounds to go, it can become a two horse race and India "A" take on India "B" in the next round, while Vietnam move on to the top board match up against Iran.

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