Indian men draw with
Brazil, women down Latvia

Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte defeated R Leitao of Brazil to earn a 2-2 draw for India while a resurgent women's team defeated Latvia by a 2-1 margin in the 11th round of the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul on Thursday.

The Indian men's team has 26 points and is placed among the 14-22 in the standings list.

Helped by a fantastic display of positional chess by Grandmaster Sergei Rublevsky, Russia consolidated its position at the top with a 2.5-1.5 victory over the Ukraine.

Russia has 30.5 points to its credit and is followed by Germany, on 29. The Ukraine is a close third on 28.5.

China widened its lead in the women's event by blanking Czech Republic 3-0. Having tallied 26 points so far, they look set to clinch the crown.

After a consistent good run since the start of the championship, the Georgian women finally slipped by losing to the Ukraine 1-2. The loss relegated Georgia to the second position on 23.5 points. India has 18.5 points.

On the top board for India, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran went down to GM Milos from the white side of a Nimzo Indian defence game. Sasikiran employed Leningrad set up and Milos got a double edged position out of the opening.

The game ventured into unexplored territory after Milos walked his king over to the queenside to counter Sasikiran's exploit on the other flank. As the game progressed, Sasikiran lost grip of the position and went on a sacrificing spree that cost him dearly.

Milos manoeuvred his king to safety on the king side and romped home as the winner after 46 moves.

Abhijit played the close Ruy Lopez and got a comfortable equality after playing established theoretical moves. Leitao found ample play in the centre, thanks to his well placed pieces but the nature of the position remained dull.

As Leitao tried initiating an attack through the centre, Abhijit doubled his rooks on the open Queen Knight file and suddenly there were threats from all over the board.

Abhijit soon transferred his queen to king side and got an overwhelming attack against the king and won the game in 44 moves.

IM P Harikrishna failed to extract advantage from White pieces and drew with G Vescovi. Harikrishna could not utilise a rare variation against the Queens Indian defence and signed the peace treaty after 21 moves.

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua drew with D Lima in an uninteresting game arising out of a Four-knights opening.

WGM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi celebrated her recent status of a Men International Master norm by defeating T Voronova. Her stupendous performance has earned her an IM norm in this tournament and she will be awarded the title soon.

Playing white, Vijayalakshmi capitalized on lacklustre play of her opponent and got space advantage. As her opponent's king was confined to the centre, she did not have any problems in going for the blood in early middle game and soon Voronova's king was dancing to her tune.

A succession of uncomplicated moves followed and the decisive blow was dealt when Vijayalakshmi promoted her queen knight pawn.