The Great Chess Wall of China remained intact after a serious threat from the Indian teams in the Asian Team Championship. On Wednesday, after the ninth and final round of competition here, Chinese men logged 25 points for gold, 1.5 points more than the Indian A team. China took all four points from Malaysia while India A managed 3.5 points from Turkmenistan. India C, who trounced Iran 3-1, finished half a point behind India A and gave the hosts the consolation that two of their teams got into the medal bracket. In the women’s section, China did not exert at all and took their points tally to 20. They took short draws on all the boards against Turkmenistan to seal their title and preferred to rest. India A, who were in contention to win silver, were pushed to the third place after they were held to a 1.5-1.5 draw by Kazakhstan. Nisha Mohota dropped a crucial point on the top board neutralising D Harika’s win on the third board. Vietnam, with a 3-0 rout of Malaysia, jumped ahead of India A with 19 points and won the silver medal. For India A, Sasikiran, Harikrishna and Dibyendu Barua scored on the first three boards while Abhijit Kunte conceded a draw on the fourth board against Turkmenistan. International Master Lanka Ravi, who was born in Andhra Pradesh and prefers to represent AP nowadays, capped his good run with a gold medal on the third board. He beat Darban of Iran in the last round for 7.5 points from nine rounds and in the process also completed his nine-round GM norm. In the women’s section, China rested World champion Zhu Chen against Turkmenistan. India A also rested Vijayalakshmi against Kazakhstan. India C recorded a 3-0 result against Sri Lanka to end with 17.5 points, the same as India B, who dropped a point to Bangladesh with Swati Ghate losing to Zakia Sultana on the second board. Meenakshi had tamed veteran Rani Hamid in 38 moves of Ruy Lopez on the top board. We lacked consistency, says Sasi Express News Service Jodhpur, April 16 The Indian teams enjoyed their moments in the sun during the Asian Team Chess Championship recording impressive victories over China in both the men’s and women’s sections. However, in the Swiss race for title, the Chinese raced ahead knocking down poor opposition by merciless margins while India relaxed against average opponents after scoring useful points in the top bracket. Yet, the silver medal that India A won here bettered their bronze in Shenyang four years ago. Better still, India C added a bronze in the men’s section. India A captain Krishnan Sasikiran admitted India lacked consistency and could not play equally well on all boards alike. ‘‘We had some poor results on some board or the other, so we could not strike properly,’’ said Sasikiran after the championship. He said he too had a poor game against Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam in the middle rounds. Lanka Ravi, the gold medal winner on the third board, said India C had a good chance to bag the silver. India C captain Sriram Jha said the team played well and complimented Ravi and Dinesh Kumar Sharma for their commendable performance. ‘‘DK Sharma had a GM norm performance on the fourth board but he had not met enough Grandmasters,’’ said Jha. India B too had great moments when they beat China 2.5-1.5. Pravin Thipsay’s gold medal on the second board was an impressive performance from a player who seemed to have come close to the end of his career. Former national champion Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman, who had beaten World champion Zhu Chen of China, said she was happy that India A was the only team that remained unbeaten in the whole championship, including men and women.
