Ningbo, September 08: Tania Sachdev recaptured her rhythm as Indian eves bounced back into contention by beating Vietnam 3-1 in the sixth round of World Women Team Chess Championship on Monday.
Monday’s win ended India’s three-match losing streak, but the eves remained at the eighth place, jointly with the United States, in the points tally.
Sachdev outplayed Pham Le Thao Nguyen after 54 moves on the second board, while compatriot Mary Ann Gomes also recovered well to beat Pham Bich Ngoc on the fourth board to ensure team’s victory.
On the remaining two boards, D Harika played out a draw with in-form Hoang Thi Bao Tram while Eesha Karavade achieved the same result against Y Hoang Thi Nhu.
Sachdev had to wait for six agonising days to register her first victory. The Delhi-based was completely off-colour in the previous four games that she played before the sixth round and the victory might help her get the confidence back.
Playing white, Tania tormented Pham Le Thao Nguyen in a Slav defense game. Gaining the upper hand early, Sachdev had to fight the technicalities but she did that in style and won after the trading of queens.
Mary Ann’s technique came good against Pham Bich Ngoc who played the black side of a Reti opening. Mary Ann deployed her forces well to reach better endgame wherein she outplayed her opponent.
With three more rounds still to come, the Indians are yet to meet China two, Ukraine and the United States and a good finish can still propel them to the upper half.
But for that the Indians will have to come out with some convincing performance in the next encounters.
Meanwhile, leaders since the first day, Polish women found their nemesis in the Armenians and crashed to a 0.5-3.5 defeat with only Joanna Majdan saving some blushes on the last board.
Even after the loss, Poland remained atop the tables as fancied China One was brought down by the United States and Georgia lost to a resurgent Russia in a day of upsets.
Poland on nine points is now followed by Georgia, China One, Russia and Ukraine, who all have seven points each while another one point adrift are China two and Armenia.
—Agencies