2010 Asian Games Team Chess Championships

That newspaper account I reported last night about the Indian Women's Team being assured a medal was, er, a bit premature.  After drawing their match against Vietnam today the Indian Women were shut out of the medals:

From The Times of India
Indian men win bronze in chess team event of Asiad
PTI, Nov 26, 2010, 08.55pm IST

GUANGZHOU:
In the women's event, the Indians played out a draw with Vietnam to miss out the bronze medal.

Harika Dronavalli first drew against Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Tania Sachdev then split points with Pham Le Thao Nguyen to continue the deadlock.

Eesha Karavade then notched up a win over Nguyen Thi Thanh An to raise hopes of a bronze medal. However, it was not to be as Women International Master Nisha Mohota lost the final tie against Woman Grandmaster Nguyen Thi Tuong Van.

Here are the final standings from Chess-Results.com:

Final Ranking after 2 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1
1	1		China	2	2	0	0	1
2	3		Uzbekistan	2	1	0	1	2
3	4		Vietnam	2	0	1	1	3
4	2		India	2	0	1	1	4

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Manually input (after Tie-Break matches)

Chess Femme News!

Today I updated Chess Femme News.  I've been reporting so much news here at the blog, I've neglected Chess Femme New's website - it's tough to do this blog and Chess Femme News consistently.  But some November news is now available and I will be providing coverage of the upcoming Women's World Chess Championship starting next month. 

By the way, check out Goddesschess' Random Round-up this week - I think you'll like it :)  As we always try to do, chess is interwoven in this week's RR in particularly unique ways...

From the India Journal:
Indian Women Chess Players Continue Fine Show
Date Submitted: Thu Nov 25, 2010

GUANGZHOU - Indian women drubbed Mongolia to climb to the joint top position while their male counterparts slipped to the fourth spot with a shocking defeat at the hands of lower-rated Philippines after the fifth round of the chess competitions in the Asian Games here Nov 22.

The women’s quartet of Harika Dronavalli, Tania Sachdev, Meenakshi Subbaraman and Nisha Mohota, undefeated so far in the competition, did not have to sweat much as they beat Mongolia by a 3.5-0.5 margin.

Harika gave India 1-0 lead after defeating Lkhamsuren Uuganba but Tania could not collect full points as she drew with lower-rated Tuvshintugs Batchi.

Meenakshi made up for Tania’s draw by beating Enkhtuul Altanulzi and Nisha then got a walk over to complete India’s facile win.

With four more rounds to go in the competition, India are atop the table along with hosts China on nine points with an identical four wins and a draw. Uzbekistan occupy the third spot with eight points.

And more coverage of the Indian Women's Chess Team at the Asian Games:

From The Times of India:
Indian women assured of a medal in chess in Asian Games
PTI, Nov 24, 2010, 09.18pm IST

GUANGZHOU: Indian women virtually assured the country of a medal as they spanked lowly Syria 4-0 to maintain their joint top position along with China with two more rounds to go in the chess team event in the Asian Games on Wednesday.

In the women's section, Tania Sachdev gave India a 1-0 lead with a facile win over much lower-rated Al-Jeldah Fatemah before Eesha Karavade beat Alshikh Kheele Wasila.

Meenakshi Subbaraman did not have to sweat much to defeat Mir Mahmoud Afamia to take India 3-0 up. The Syrian team did not field any contestant against Nisha Mohota for the fourth match.

After seven rounds, India and China are on joint top with 13 points from six wins and a draw each, four clear of third-placed Uzbekistan (nine).

From bellvision.com
Mangalore: Vanessa D’Souza wins CAI chess championship
(from The Hindu.com)


Vanessa D'Souza

 Mangalore, 25 November 2010: Vanessa D’Souza of Mangalore has done the city proud by winning the First CAI (Chess Association India) National Women’s Chess Championship held in Palakkad, Kerala, from November 18 to 21. It was organised by the Palakkad District Chess Association on behalf of the Kerala Chess Association under the aegis of CAI.

[Note: I believe the CAI is competing in India to become the primary chess association against the All India Chess Federation. Some top players have had, shall we say, disagreements with the All India Chess Federation.]

More on the Asian Games, this time, a look at the Chinese board game Weiqi or "Go" as it is popularly called:

From The Times of India:
Chinese chess takes stage at Asian Games
AP, Nov 24, 2010, 11.25am IST

"Weiqi is a mind sport that originated from China. It has been popularized from 2,500 years ago," the games' official blurb notes. "It fully embodies the Oriental way of thinking and ideological system, and is one of the major contributions China has made to the world civilization."

Weiqi is deceptively simple. Black and white "stones" are played one by one on a Weiqi board with 361 crosses made of 19 vertical lines and 19 horizontal lines. The object of the game is to "occupy" as much of the board as possible by surrounding your opponent's stones and thereby rendering them "dead."

Whichever player wins more area on the board wins the game. The game is widely popular throughout east Asia, where millions of people play it and programs analyzing the moves of grandmasters are a staple of late-night television. ...

2010 Asian Games Team Chess Championships

Those Indian women just keep the pressure up, round after round.  I love it!!!  And I love the coverage they are receiving in their national press, too!

From The Times of India
Indian women maintain joint top after six rounds
PTI, Nov 23, 2010, 07.10pm IST

GUANGZHOU: Indian women are on course for a chess medal as they scored an easy victory over Bangladesh to remain on joint top along with China after six rounds of the chess competition in the Asian Games on Tuesday.

Harika Dronavalli settled for a draw against her lower-rated opponent Shamima Akter Liza in the first game before her three compatriots registered comfortable wins to guide India to a 3.5-0.5 victory.

Eesha Karavade did not have to sweat much to beat Sultana Sharmin while Meenakshi Subbaram and Nisha Mohota saw off Nazrana Khan and Masuda Begum in no time.

With three rounds to go, Indian women are on joint top with China on 11 points, three clear of joint third Uzbekistan and Vietnam, who are on eight each.

The following from chess-results.com:

Rank after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		China	6	5	1	0	11	18,0	0,0
2	2		India	6	5	1	0	11	17,5	0,0
3	5		Uzbekistan	6	4	0	2	8	16,5	0,0
4	3		Vietnam	6	4	0	2	8	15,0	0,0

2010 Asian Games Women's Team Chess

Standings after R4:

Rank after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		China	4	3	1	0	7	11,5	0,0
2	2		India	4	3	1	0	7	10,5	0,0
3	5		Uzbekistan	4	3	0	1	6	13,0	0,0
4	3		Vietnam	4	3	0	1	6	11,0	0,0
5	4		Iran	4	2	0	2	4	9,0	0,0
6	6		Bangladesh	4	2	0	2	4	8,0	0,0
7	7		Mongolia	4	2	0	2	4	6,5	0,0
8	10		Syria	4	2	0	2	4	5,5	0,0
9	8		Turkmenistan	4	1	0	3	2	6,5	0,0
10	9		Qatar	4	1	0	3	2	6,0	0,0
11	11		Korea	4	1	0	3	2	5,0	0,0
12	12		Jordan	4	0	0	4	0	2,5	0,0

Coverage on the Indian Women's Team  from The Times of India:

Asian Games: Indian men slip, women win in chess
PTI, Nov 21, 2010, 07.26pm IST

In the women category, India pulled off a scintillating win over lower-ranked Vietnam, courtesy Tania Sachdev's brilliant win over Pham Le Thao Nguyen.

While Tania won her match, her teammates -- Harika Dronavalli, Esha Karavade and Meenakshi Subbaraman -- were denied victory by their respective opponents in other games.

International Master Harika began the show for the Indian women with a draw against World Grandmaster Hoang Thi Bao Tram.

Tania Sachdev then put India ahead with a win over Nguyen in the second game, before Esha, an International Master, and World Grand Master Meenakshi, split points with World Grandmaster Nguyen Thi Thanh An and Nguyen Thi Thoug Van respectively.

Indian women now share the first place with China with seven points after the fourth round.

2010 Asian Games

The Team Chess Championshiups continue and the Indian press continues to give good coverage to their home teams.  Indian women's team is in third place after holding powerhouse China to all draws! That is something - wow.  The following is excerpted from The Times of India:

Indian men strengthened top position in chess
PTI, Nov 20, 2010, 08.47pm IST
GUANGZHOU:
In the women's section also, India pulled off a creditable draw with China by denying their higher rated opponents any victory in the four games.

International Master Harika Dronavalli began the good show for the Indian women by denying Grandmaster Hou Yifan a victory.

Tania Sachdev then drew with higher-rated Ju Wenjun in the second game before Esha Karavade, an International Master, splitting points with Grandmaster Zhao Xue.

Nisha Mohota then completed the fine show by the Indians by drawing with higher-rated Huang Qian in the last game.

Indian women are on third spot with eight points after the third round.

2010 Asian Games Team Chess Championships

I can rely on the Indian press to report chess news - and they haven't let me down today!

From the Times of India Online

Good start for Indian men and women in team chess competition
PTI, Nov 18, 2010, 11.13pm IST

GUANGZHOU: Despite K Sasikiran's stalemate with a player ranked far below him, Indian men managed to outsmart Kyrgistan 3.5-0, while their women counterparts defeated Turkmenistan by a similar scoreline, on the opening day of team chess competition in the Asian Games on Thursday.

Sasi, the tournament's second seed with a rating of 2688, was held by Nurdin Samakov (2380) after P Harikrishna gave India a 1-0 lead by beating Algis Shakuraliev.

G N Gopal and B Adhiban made sure that the early lead was converted into a winning one by getting the better of their respective rivals Nasyr Akylbekov and Semet Tologontegin.

Indian men stood tied in third place with Vietnam after the first-round win, with Iran and Qatar in joint lead with four points each.

Sasi said his opponent defended stoutly to earn a draw. "I could have won, but unfortunately, I didn't seize the chance. My opponent defended quite well," he said, adding the target was the team gold after a blank in the individual event.

"We hope we can get to the final. The best (expectation) of course would be to win the gold medal."

He rated hosts China as the biggest threat. "The biggest (threat) is the Chinese team," he said. The women, even in the absence of individual silver medallist Dronavalli Harika, were too good, with Tania Sachdev, Meenakshi Subbaraman and Nisha Mohota, winning their ties, while Eesha Karavade was held to a draw by her Turkmenistan rival Mekhri Geldiyeva.

The women were in fifth position with 3.5 points, behind joint leaders Bangladesh, China, Iran and Uzbekistan.

Sixteen teams are in fray for medals in the men's section, while a dozen women outfits are vying for honours.