Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A brilliant Surya Shekhar Ganguly propelled the Indian men’s team to a 2.5-1.5 victory over fourth seeded Armenia in the fifth round of the 36th Chess Olympiad here at Gran Casino. India is the only team besides Azerbaijan and France that has won all their matches so far. Nine rounds still remain in this biggest chess event.
While Ganguly’s win over Gabriel Sargissen was the lone victory for the Indians in the fifth round, the other games were drawn with some very exciting fights.
On the topboard world rapid champion Viswanathan Anand drew with former world junior champion Levon Aronian and Krishnan Sasikiran salvaged a completely lost position to hold veteran Rafael Vaganian. On the third, Harikrishna signed peace with Smbat Lputian.
Ganguly was the star performer yet again. It was a normal Ruy Lopez wherein the Indian faced some optically dangerous plans by Armenian Sargissen and fell under some pressure on the clock as he had used a lot of time in the opening. Ganguly emerged with a superior position but the clock prompted him to offer the draw in his 21st move as Sargissen had 25 minutes to back him.
Indian women manage to hold Poland
The Indian women fought valiantly to hold last edition’s bronze medallists Poland in the fifth round. It turned out to be a tough day for the sixth seeded Indians as they survived some anxiuos moments on the top two boards before salvaging draws in all the three games for a 1.5-1.5 result.
Top Indian Koneru Humpy took on Poland’s best player Iweta Radziewicz and succeded in getting a tangible advantage after a rather surprising Benoni Defence employed by the latter.
