Asian Nations Cup 02: India hold China!

Asian Nations Cup 2016: India hold China!

The Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship has begun at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel with 20 countries competing for the right to represent Asia in the World Chess Team Championship. Team India, led by top coaches R.B. Ramesh and Vishal Sareen, are obvious contenders for the title in both the men's and women's section, but we are facing the great wall of China, the country that remains the overwhelming favourite.

Speaking of India and China, both the heavyweights faced off in the women's section in the second round itself. India had held China to a draw last time, and the ideal aim would be to be slightly better this time!

India could not go one up  -- the team held China to a draw. However, things weren't as placid as one may think.

The team employed a very interesting idea: IM Tania Sachdev (2370) was placed on the second board to take on the experienced GM Zhao Xue (2504) while IM Padmini Rout (2439), was stationed on the third to face WGM Tan Zhongyi (2518). The board one game comprised of the Teheran GP winner GM Ju Wenjun (2568) taking on GM Dronavalli Harika (2515), while WGM Soumya Swaminathan (2384) took on WGM Tingjie Lei (2495) on the fourth board.

Soumya rose to the occasion brilliantly by playing the only move that maintains the advantage for her.

While Tania had a better position for the most part of her game, she could not convert and settled for a draw. Padmini, who had a fine position, played inaccurately and botched the game up to lose.

So far so good, but things began to look grim for India on the top board where Harika overstretched and ended a pawn down, but with opposite coloured bishop, she fought resourcefully to hold the balance in the game as well as the match.

Now, on a side note, imagine GM Koneru Humpy leading the team in such a scenario -- beating the Chinese and gunning for the gold becomes a realistic aim!

India Men's team, on the other hand, was expected to outrun, if not outplay, the Mongolian team. Each member outrated his opponent by two hundred points, if not more. Yet, like death, chess is a great leveller.

GM S.P. Sethuraman (2658) lost to GM Tsegmed Batchuluun (2460) while GM K. Sasikiran settled for a draw with FM Sumiya Bilguun (2363). GM B. Adhiban faced no issues in dismantling GM Sayarsaikhaan Gundavaa (2517).

But the biggest scare India suffered was on board three, where GM Vidit Gujrathi sacrificed his queen for a rook, under rough circumstances! He managed to create a fortress though and held a draw. India settled for a 2-2 tie with Mongolia.

ChessBase India will update more games as and when we come across them. Our readers are requested to understand that the shoddy manner of live transmission of the games has virtually resulted in no accurate notations at all! Feedback and comments welcome.