The Indian A team handed over the lead to China after going down 1.5-2.5 to Kazakhstan in the eighth and penultimate round in the Asian Team Chess Championship here on Tuesday. Surya Sekhar Ganguly lost a crucial game to Pavel Kotsur on the second board and the other games were drawn as the premier Indian team fluffed a golden chance to move closer to its Asian team title and thus a maiden World Team Championship appearance.In contrast, China, though very unimpressive in their performance so far, struck at the right time and against the right opponents. They routed defending champions Uzbekistan by a massive 3.5-0.5 margin and grabbed a vital one-point lead (with 21 points) going into the last round. India A were in the second position with 20 points, the same as India C, who downed Kyrgyzstan 3-1 in the eighth round.India B struggled for their 2.5-1.5 win over Sri Lanka with the inconsistent RB Ramesh losing to Anurudha on the third board afer Koneru Humpy and Pravin Thipsay recorded victories on the top two boards. Results (8th Round) Men: India A (20) lost to Kazakhstan (19.5) 1.5-2.5; Uzbekistan (16) lost to China (21) 0.5-3.5; Kyrgyzstan (11) lost to India C (20) 1-3; India B (19) bt Sri Lanka (8.5) 2.5-1.5; Malaysia (16) bt Iran (16.5) 2.5-1.5; Macau (4) lost to Turkmenistan (18.5) 0-4;Vietnam (18) bye. Women: China (18.5) bt Bangaldesh (8.5) 3-0; India C (14.5) drew with Vietnam (16) 1.5-1.5; Sri Lanka (3.5) lost to India A (17) 0-3; Kyrgyzstan (9) lost to India B (15.5) 1-2; Malaysia (7) lost to Kazakhstan (14.5) 0-3; Turkmenistan (8) drew with Iran (12) 1.5-1.5. China struck through Ye Jiangchuan, Zhang Zhong and Zhang Pengxiang against Uzbekistan in their reversal of fortunes. The highest rated player here, Ye Jiangchuan, who has been drawing many games, found form when he met the second highest rated player in the competition, Rustan Kasimdzhanov and beat him in 43 moves of Sicilian Defence.India A could not break through the Kazakh defence as Krishnan Sasikiran was held to a draw by Darmen Sadvakasov on the top board in 48 moves of Reti Opening, Kostenko and Harikrishna split the point in 58 moves of Queens Indian Defence and Askarov did well to hold Abhijit Kunte in 57 moves of Ruy Lopez. Kotsur outwitted Ganguly in 42 moves of Guioco Piano on the second board.WGM NORM FOR MEENAKSHI: The Chinese women are within striking distance of gold after their 3-0 win against Bangladesh in the penultimate round. India A scored a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka but India B could score only a 2-1 victory over Kygyzstan despite a good performance by Meenakshi Subbaraman on the top board. Meenakshi defeated Irina Ostry in 39 moves of English Opening to pocket her second WGM norm. She has scored 5.5 points from eight games. She had collected her first norm at the British championship last year.China, with 18.5 points, are 1.5 points ahead of India A. India C did their premier team a favour by holding Vietnam to a 1.5-1.5 draw. Bye-bug for India B It is the turn of India B to get the bye in the last round. The penultimate round results were not kind to the Koneru Humpy-led Indian B team as they struggled to beat Sri Lanka. ‘‘We should have won by 4-0,’’ said Koneru Humpy after the match. ‘‘At least, 3.5.0.5 was possible,’’ said her father Koneru Ashok. In the end, the Indian B team got only a 2.5-1.5 win against lowly Sri Lanka as Kazakhstan, with a half point lead over them, managedto avoid the bye. Unbeaten warriors Former national champion and Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay is at his best in this Asian Team Ches Championship. He has not lost a single game and has scored 5.5 points on the second board. This leaves his with the possibility of bagging a gold medal on the second board. His main rival on the second board is Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan who has also scored 5.5 points from seven games. Kotsur seems to have a big advantage over Thipsay for gold as the Kazakh has one more game (against Sri Lanka on Wednesday) while Thipsay will have to rest in the last round as India B will have a bye. China’s Zhang Pengxiang is another unbeaten warrior, having scored six points on the fourth board. — Hari Hara Nandanan
