India tames Turkey, remains in joint lead

Bursa, Turkey:

Continuing their excellent run, India defeated Turkey 3-1 in the fourth round to remain in joint lead at the World Team Chess Championship here.

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran led from the front yet again while P Harikrishna delivered the goods on the second board to complete the Indian victory.

The other two games were drawn.

The Indians took their tally to a very impressive six points out of a possible eight and share the lead with Russia, Armenia, Israel and the United States.

Falling behind the title race was Azerbaijan after suffering its second successive loss as they were beaten by Russia by a minimal 2.5-.1.5 margin.

With five teams sharing the lead, Azerbaijan is sole sixth on four points followed by Egypt, Greece and Brazil on two match points each.

Sasikiran was in full command against Kivanc Haznedaroglu who played the white side of an Exchange Ruy Lopez.

Going for a recently popular set up, Sasikiran obtained a position with dynamic balance in the middle game and improved his position rapidly.

While trying to find an attack against the castled black king on the queen side, Haznedaroglu missed the tactical possibilities and blundered a piece on the 21st moves. It was just a technical affair thereafter as Sasikiran won 10 moves later.

Harikrishna had to fight a little longer but his result was not in much doubt after he gained a lasting advantage out of a King's Indian defense by his opponent Mert Erdogdu.

Playing white, Harikrishna got serious threats on the queen side and won a piece which he later returned to reach a won rook and pawns endgame. The game lasted 42 moves.

Ezsen Baris tried hard to make amends for his team mates blunders on the top two boards but his efforts were thwarted by S Arun Prasad on the third board.

The Semi Slav defense by the Indian yielded a balanced middle game and endgame and Arun Prasad only had to liquidate at the right juncture to ensure a draw.

National Champion B Adhiban got his first match in the event against Firat Burak. A queen pawn opening did not give much to hope for and Adhiban let his opponent equalize quite easily.

The exchanges at regular intervals made the position simpler for both the players and the game was drawn vide repetition after 37 moves.

While it has been a good going for the Indians, a big test awaits them in the next round when the meet Armenia.

The Armenians have had some fine results after a first round loss against Azerbaijan and the Indians will have to play really well to stop the Chess Olympiad winners.

The host team is still at the bottom of the tables, looking forward to open their account with five rounds still remaining the elite team event.

While the Russians were a big winner against Azerbaijan, Israel and Armenia also had a clinical approach in cruising past Greece and Brazil respectively with a 2.5-1.5 victory.

In other match of the day, the United States team proved better than Egypt and romped home with a 3-1 margin.