World Cup – Mixed day for Indians

It was a mixed day for Indians in the game 1 of round 3 of the World Cup. While Harikrishna, Vidit and Praggnanandhaa posted convincing wins, Adhiban,Nihal and Harika lost their first games.

Vidit defeated Adhiban very convincingly in the match between two of India’s best players, to go 1-0 up in their match. Harikrishna outplayed his opponent, Romanian GM Lupulescu to go up 1-0. Praggnandhaa continued his brilliant run in the world cup to convincingly defeat his 58 year old opponent, Polish GM Michal Krasenkow, to go 1-0 up.

Nihal had a nice position out of an adventurous opening, but misplayed an equal endgame and ended up losing against the highly rated Russian GM Dmitry Andreikin. Harika underestimated her opponent’s attacking possibilities and was outplayed convincingly by Russian GM Valentina Gunina. Adhiban,Nihal and Harika need to win their 2nd game to take the match into the tie-break.

Results:

Open

GM Vidit Gujrathi – GM B Adhiban: 1-0

GM P Harikrishna – GM Constantin Lupulescu (ROU): 1-0

GM Praggnanandhaa R – GM Michal Krasenkow (POL): 1-0

GM Nihal Sarin – GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS): 0-1

Women

GM Valentina Gunina vs. GM Dronavalli Harika (IND): 1-0

Report by GM N Srinath