Men win, women draw; both joint at third spots

Viswanathan Anand and in-form Surya Shekhar Ganguly powered the Indian men8217;s team to a 3-1 win over Holland in the sixth round of the 36th Chess Olympiad here at Fran Casino. The win over the 8th seeded Holland took India to the joint third spot in the standing list along with Bulgaria on 17 points. But Grandmaster Koneru Humpy suffered a shocking defeat and still India managed to bounce back to hold Hungary in the sixth round of the women8217;s section.

Significantly, India is the only team in the Olympiad thus far that has won all its matches. Even leader Ukraine have conceded one draw to Israel while the Russians were tamed by the leaders in the fourth round itself.

While Anand and Ganguly won their respective boards, the other two Indians 8212; Krishnan Sasikiran and Abhijit Kunte 8212; split points with their rivals.

The women managed 1.5 points against Hungary which was enough to propel them to share the third spot with Russia, Ukraine, United States, Bulgaria and Armenia, all of whom are on 12 points.

With eight more rounds still remaining, the hunt for the medals is only likely to heat up after the rest day today.