Another Rout as India Pulls Away in Asian Games

Monday, 11 December 2006 00:00

The Indian juggernaut continued to roll over opposition as they shut out Uzbekistan 3:0 to pull away in the second half of the Asian Games Chess Team Championship in Doha, Qatar. Krishnan Sasikiran led the rout with a brilliancy against Rustam Kasimjanov. With 16 points, India is seemingly unreachable by second running Qatar and Iran with 11.5 points each. China beat Qatar 2:1 to bounce back into medal contention with 11 points. Iran blanked Turkmenistan 3:0 and faces India in round 7. Visit the Asian Games website. .

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By Casto Abundo, Chief Arbiter, 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006

The Indian juggernaut continued to roll over opposition as they shut out Uzbekistan 3:0 to pull away in the second half of the Asian Games Chess Team Championship in Doha, Qatar. Krishnan Sasikiran led the rout with a brilliant game against former world champion Rustam Kasimjanov. With 16 points, India is seemingly unreachable by second running Qatar and Iran with 11.5 points each. China beat Qatar 2:1 to bounce back into medal contention with 11 points. Iran blanked Turkmenistan 3:0 and faces India in round 7.

Visit the Asian Games website.

Koneru Humpy was first to score for India as she outclassed WIM Olga Sabirova on third board. Then Krishnan Sasikiran played a brilliant game unleashing a sacrificial attack on the 42nd move against former world champion Rustam Kasimjanov who resigned facing mate four moves later. Pentala Harikrishna completed the rout winning the endgame against GM Alexey Barsov. Sasikiran is the only player with a perfect score of 6 points out of 6 games.

With India out of reach, focus shifted to the battle for silver and bronze.

The Iranian GM`s outclassed their IM opponents from Turkmenistan, scoring 3:0 to share second slot. They go up against India in round 7.

Qatar faces Kazakhstan, led by GM Darmen Sadvakasov and Asian Games Rapid Chess gold medalist Murtas Kazhgaleyev. Former women`s world champion Zhu Chen has been an anchor for Qatar, giving the host team the edge.

China, with 11 points, is in contention for medals. The Chinese Olymiad silver medalists recovered to score two points against Qatar on wins by Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue over GM Mohamed Al Modiahki and IM Mohamad Al Sayed, respectively. Zhu Chen beat Zhao Xue to prevent a shutout. China matches with rival Vietnam next round.

Kazakhstan is in fifth slot with 10.5 points followed by Vietnam and Indonesia with 10 points each. With only 1.5 points separating them from the runner-up, it is still possible to catch up in the medal race for silver and bronze.

The Indian juggernaut. From left are GMs Koneru Humpy, Pentala Harikrishna and Krishnan Sasikiran.

Sasikiran-Kasimjanov continued 42.Rd5! Bxe6 43. Bxg6 Kxg6 44. Qxh5+ Kf6 45. Nd4! Qc8 46. Rg5 1-0

China team, from left, Zhao Xue, Wang Yue and Bu Xiangzhi. Looking is Match Arbiter Genden Altanoch.

Irianian team, from left: Atousa Purkashian, Elshan Moradiabadi and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami.

Rank after round 6

Rank	Team	Gam.	+	=	-	Pts.	BH.
1	India	6	6	0	0	16	60.5
2	Qatar	6	4	0	2	11.5	66
3	Iran	6	3	2	1	11.5	54
4	China	6	4	0	2	11	66.5
5	Kazakhstan	6	4	0	2	10.5	53.5
6	Vietnam	6	3	1	2	10	66
7	Indonesia	6	2	2	2	10	59.5
8	Uzbekistan	6	3	0	3	9.5	66
9	Mongolia	6	3	0	3	9.5	58.5
10	Jordan	6	2	2	2	9.5	49
11	Turkmenistan	6	3	0	3	9	60.5
12	Bangladesh	6	3	1	2	9	53.5
13	Philippines	6	1	2	3	8.5	48.5
14	Syria	6	2	2	2	8	55.5
15	United Arab Emirates	6	2	1	3	8	50.5
16	Bahrain	6	3	1	2	8	40
17	Palestine	6	2	1	3	8	31.5
18	Japan	6	3	0	3	7	35.5
19	Nepal	6	3	0	3	6.5	37
20	SriLanka	6	1	1	4	5.5	45
21	Macau	6	1	0	5	2.5	39.5

Round 6 on 2006/12/11

6.1	1	India		3 - 0	6	Uzbekistan
1	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	1 : 0	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2672
2	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2674	1 : 0	GM	Barsov Alexei	2537
3	GM	Koneru Humpy	2545	1 : 0	WIM	Sabirova Olga	2230
6.2	2	China		2 - 1	3	Qatar
1	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2671	1 : 0	GM	Al-Modiahki Mohamad	2550
2	GM	Wang Yue	2644	1 : 0	IM	Al Sayed Mohamad N	2486
3	WGM	Zhao Xue	2467	0 : 1	GM	Zhu Chen	2501
6.3	5	Iran		3 - 0	10	Turkmenistan
1	GM	Ghaem Maghami Ehsan	2581	1 : 0	IM	Annaberdiev Meilis	2457
2	GM	Moradiabadi Elshan	2539	1 : 0	IM	Amanov Mesgen	2339
3	WIM	Pourkashian Atousa	2329	1 : 0	WGM	Geldyeva Mekhri	2273
6.4	7	Vietnam		1.5 - 1.5	8	Indonesia
1	GM	Dao Thien Hai	2557	1 : 0	GM	Adianto Utut	2589
2	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung	2541	0 : 1	GM	Megaranto Susanto	2492
3	WGM	Nguyen Thi Thanh An	2312	.5 : .5	WFM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	2239
6.5	12	Syria		0 - 3	4	Kazakhstan
1	IM	Hakki Imad	2422	0 : 1	GM	Sadvakasov Darmen	2596
2		Bakr Jwan	2335	0 : 1	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas	2609
3		Mir Mahmoud Afamia	1983	0 : 1	WIM	Aketaeva Dana	2312
6.6	11	Mongolia		2 - 1	17	Philippines
1	FM	Batchuluun Cegmed	2404	.5 : .5	IM	Laylo Darwin	2448
2		Gundavaa Bayarsaihan	2237	.5 : .5	IM	Dableo Ronald	2425
3	WGM	Mongontuul Bathuyag	2383	1 : 0		Docena Jedara	0
6.7	14	United Arab Emirates		1 - 2	9	Bangladesh
1	GM	Talib Moosa	2365	0 : 1	IM	Hossain Enamul	2503
2	IM	Hassan Abdullah	2311	1 : 0	GM	Reefat Bin-Sattar	2489
3	WFM	Saleh Noura Mohd	1879	0 : 1		Akter Shamima Liza	2096
6.8	15	SriLanka		0 - 3	13	Jordan
1		Russell M K A	2234	0 : 1		Samhouri Ahmed	2322
2		Anuruddha G C	2204	0 : 1	FM	Rimawi Bahjat T	2308
3		Methmali Yasoda	1895	0 : 1	WIM	Jamalia Natalia	1988
6.9	18	Nepal		1 - 2	16	Japan
1		Shresta Bilam Lal	2104	1 : 0		Nanjo Ryosuke	2186
2		Surbir Lama	2095	0 : 1		Kojima Shinya	2187
3		Khamboo Mona Lisa	0	0 : 1		Nakagawa Emiko	1933
6.10	20	Palestine		3 - 0	21	Macau
1		Tamra Attallah	2102	1 : 0		Abelgas Rodolfo	0
2		Shobaita Talal	2183	1 : 0		Mak Tong Kuan	0
3		Jaradat Shadia	0	1 : 0		Chan I Sin	0