The Indian eves fought valiantly to hold last edition's bronze medallists Poland in the fifth round of the 36th Chess Olympiad at Gran Casino in Mallorca, Spain.
It turned out to be a tough day for the sixth seeded Indians as they survived some anxious moments on the top two boards before salvaging draws in all the three games for a 1.5-1.5 result.
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Amazingly the Chinese women moved to 14 points out of a possible 15 games played so far and took a whopping three points lead over nearest rivals Russia, Ukraine and France who all have 11 points each.
Indian girls are next in the standing list on 10.5 points while a pack of seven teams including Germany and United States are close on their heels with 10 points each.
Top Indian player Koneru Humpy took on Poland's best player Iweta Radziewicz and succeeded in getting a tangible advantage after a rather surprising Benoni defence employed by the latter.
Quickly capitalising on her greater space control, Humpy launched an offence on the king side in copy book fashion but got a bit complacent in the middle game.
"It was a wrong plan that I chose, the position looked so promising for me", Humpy said after the game.
After Radziewicz settled down, she did not budge against some well disguised manoeuvres by Humpy. Trading both the rooks on the king side the players arrived at a Queen and minor piece endgame where the draw was agreed after 35 moves.
S Vijayalakshmi was on the receiving end against Joanna Dworakowska from the black side of a Scotch opening game and only some resolute play helped her in managing the draw after some very tense moments.
Dworakowska was in command of the proceedings in the middle game with all her centralised pieces and a promising exchange sacrifice by her on the 26th move made black's position very suspicious.
However, Vijayalakshmi hung in with perfect defensive manoeuvres and the repetition of moves led to a draw after 47 moves.
Dronavalli Harika had a tiny advantage against Marta Zielinska from a Queen pawn game but decided against pressing hard in her 25-move draw. The Indian has drawn all her four games so far.
The Chinese trio were once again in a rampaging mood. On the top board Xie Jun, who has not been playing much competitive chess recently, grounded Hunt in a spectacular attacking game from the white side of a Sicilian Nazdorf.
Hunt could only watch in dismay as white's forces made merry and she resigned on her 31st move. Zhao Xue was on the defensive for some time as Houska went for an adventurous piece sacrifice in another Sicilian Nazdorf of the day. But once Xue successfully thwarted white's onslaught the English woman was no match.
With exchange of pieces at regular intervals, Xue's extra piece helped her to force matters in 42 moves.
Huang Qian had to work the hardest amongst her team members but her efforts paid off yet again as Richards failed to defend a slightly worse position in the middle game. Huang Qian's fifth victory on the trot came in 80 moves.
In other important matches Ukraine held second seed Russia to a 1.5-1.5 draw, while Sweden did the same against United States.
Indian results - women (Round 5):
Koneru Humpy drew with Iweta Radziewicz; Joanna Dworakowska drew with S Vijayalakshmi; D Harika drew with Marta Zielinska.
Important results (Round 5):
China (14) beat England (9.5) 3-0; Ukraine (11) drew with Russia (11) 1.5-1.5; Germany (10) lost to France (9); India (10.5) drew with Poland (10) 1.5-1.5; Sweden (10) drew with United States (10) 1.5-1.5; Vietnam (9.5) lost to Hungary (10) 1-2; Argentina (9.5) drew with Netherlands (9.5) 1.5-1.5; Latvia (9) lost to Georgia (10) 1-2; Uzbekistan (8) lost to Slovakia (10) 0.5-2.5; Cuba (9.5) beat Slovenia (8.5) 2-1; Serbia Montenegro (8.5) lost to Belarus (9.5) 1-2; Romania (8.5) lost to Israel (9.5) 1-2; Greece (8.5) lost to Armenia (9.5) 1-2; Bulgaria (9.5) beat Turkey (7.5) 2.5-0.5; Kazakhstan (8) lost to Moldova (9) 1-2; Spain B (9) beat Iran (8) 2-1.
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