The India ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams registered comprehensive victories in the seventh round in the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad here on Friday. Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan secured wins over Abhijeet Gupta and Abhimanyu Puranik as India ‘A’, the second seeds, outclassed India ‘C’ 3-1.
Teenaged GM D Gukesh continued his dream run, notching up a seventh straight win in the event, beating Cuban GM Carlos Albornoz Cabrera to help India ‘B’ record a crushing 3.5-0.5 win. It is the sixth win from seven rounds for the team which also includes GMs R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin and B Adhiban. Top-ranked USA took a 2-1 lead against Armenia, who were in the lead after six rounds with as many wins.
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In the women’s section, leaders – India ‘A’, the top-seeds, saw their best player Koneru Humpy go down to Gunay Mammadzada of Azerbaijan, while D Harika drew with Khanim Balajyeva before Tania Sachdev and R Vaishali defeated Ulviyya Fataliyeva and Govhar Beydullayeva to set up a 2.5-1.5 win.
The come from behind victory ensured that India ‘A’ extended their winning streak to seven with four more rounds to be played. India ‘B’ lost 1.5-2.5 to Greece as Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan suffered defeats even as the host’s ‘C’ team took a winning 2.5-0.5 lead against Switzerland riding on wins for Easha Karavade and P V Nandhidhaa.
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