India Downs Qatar 3-1

India Downs Qatar 3-1
By Arvind Aaron

Helped by victories from the middle boards of S.P. Sethuraman and K Sasikiran, India downed Qatar 3-1 in the seventh round of the 41st Chess Olympiad at Tromso, Norway on August 9, 2014.

Former world women’s champion Zhu Chen missed chances against Sasikiran that could have levelled the scores for Qatar. Parimarjan Negi and Adhiban drew on the top and bottom boards.

After an eventful round, Azerbaijan leads with 13 points. Czech Republic who thrashed Russia 3-1 joined China, Bulgaria and Romania in the second place with 12 points. India is tied for the sixth place with 11 match points after this win over Qatar.

Eighth seeded Azerbaijan won on its white boards via Radjabov and Guseinov to defeat Cuba 2.5-1.5. Dominguez’s win over Mamedyarov on the top board went in vain.

The surprise of this round was Russia’s 1-3 defeat to Czech Republic. Top board woes continue for the top seed Russia. Grischuk and Svidler lost on the top two boards to Navara David and Viktor Laznicka and the other boards were drawn.

Azerbaijan leads with 13 points and four rounds remain to be played. Azerbaijan has never won the Olympiad or even a medal in the Olympiad.

Defending champions, Russia won a crucial match 3-1 against top seed China in the Women’s section to wrest sole lead with 14 points.

In the second place are China, Hungary and Poland on 12 points. India is tied for the twelfth place with 10 match points.

Indian women nearly blanked the Netherlands 3.5-0.5 with Harika ceding the only draw against Peng on the top board while Tania Sachdev, Mary Ann and Padmini Rout won for India. Eesha was rested.

Among Indains, Padmini Rout is on 5.5/6 and is gaining about 27.6 Elo while others are in a negligible rating range. In the open section, Sethuraman (5/6) is gaining about 15.3 Elo while the other players are moving in a narrow rating range of less than five Elo.