Time for stars to make a point

The big battles are over. It is now time for the big brothers to accumulate points. The main contenders have almost finished their head to h...

The big battles are over. It is now time for the big brothers to accumulate points. The main contenders have almost finished their head to head encounters in the first half of the Asian Team Chess Championship itself. The next four rounds will feature some one-sided matches in which China, Vietnam and India will look to muster maximum points.

On Saturday, the rest day, the teams were taken for a sight-seeing trip to the fort and palace around the city. Most of the players understook the trip because the serious battles have already been fought in the first five rounds.

China are well-placed at the half-way stage, having taken the lead in both the men’s and women’s sections but when it comes to accumulating points against weaker teams, the former Soviet republics like Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have been in a different league and it is this factor that will most likely decide the overall standings in the end.

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Defending champions Uzbekistan know this well as they bagged the gold last time with a 4-0 result in the last round ahead of China. India may have settled a personal score with China, with the men drawing a match that they could have won and the women scoring their first-ever win over the undisputed Asian champions but the home team has a bigger problem in Jodhpur because they have been fighting among themselves in a manner that has even been amusing for the visitors here.

For India A men the major test is against Uzbekistan in the sixth round on Sunday. After that they will be meeting the minnows in the last three rounds and they have to heavily in those rounds if they have to race past China. They also rely heavily on the India B and India C teams to extend China, who have a clear lead of 1.5 points over their immediate rivals (India C), in the next four rounds so that their path is cleared by the time they reach the home stretch.

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