The Indian eves suffered a disappointing 0.5-2.5 loss against Georgia in the 11th round of the women's section at the 36th Chess Olympiad at Gran Casino in Mallorca, Spain.
The Indian women were hit badly by enterprising Georgians as former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze capitalised on a rare blunder by Koneru Humpy and won on the top board while Nana Dznidze outplayed S Vijayalakshmi on the second after Dronavalli Harika had done her bit on the last board by holding higher rated Lela Javakhishvili.
The Chinese women inched closer to the title with an easy 1.5-1.5 draw with Hungary with all boards signing peace. Taking their tally to 26, China still maintains a clear lead of 4 points over nearest rivals Georgia and looks set to retain the title. The US and Hungary are next in line on 21.5, while France and England are now half a point adrift of them after smashing victories in round 11. The next spot is shared by Russia and Slovenia while the Indian women, who were joint third before this round, slipped to joint 9th position after the debacle.
On the top board, Koneru Humpy lost to Chiburdanidze but only after a blunder in an at least drawn position. Playing the Reti opening as white, Humpy could not quite manage to break the defences of Chiburdanidze and exchange of pawns at regular intervals led to a rook and minor piece endgame that Humpy could have drawn without much ado. However, under time pressure, disaster struck Humpy, as she failed to spot a simple rook retreat leading to a double attack and lost a piece to never recover in the 64-move encounter.
Vijayalakshmi was not in her element against Dzagnidze who played the white side of a Nimzo Indian defence. Not reading the finer points of the middle game well, Vijayalakshmi conceded some advantage to Dzagnidze that the latter nurtured wall. The game lasted 41 moves.
In other important matches of the day, the US defeated Armenia 2-1 while Russia brushed aside the challenge of Armenia with the same margin.
Results:
Hungary (21.5) drew with China (26) 1.-1.5; India (20) lost to Georgia (22) 0.5-2.5; Slovakia (19.5) lost to United States (21.5) 1-2; Armenia (19.5) lost to Russia (20.5) 1-2; Lithuania (18.5) lost to France (21) 0.5-2.5; Ukraine (19.5) drew with Bulgaria (19.5) 1.5-1.5; Mongolia (17.5) lost to Eng land 1) 0-3; Czech Republic (18.5) lost to Poland (19.5) 1-2; Latvia (18) lost to Azerbaijan (20) 0.5-2.5; Netherlands (17.5) lost to Slovenia (20.5) 0-3; Israel (18) lost to Sweden (19) 1-2; Serbia Montenegro (19.5) beat Germany (17.5) 2.5-0.5; Cuba (18.5) beat Australia (17.5) 2-1; Moldova (18) drew with Romania (18) 1.5-1.5; Iceland (16.5) lost to Iran (19) 0.5-2.5; Colombia (17) lost to Norway (18) 1-2; Kazakhstan (18) beat Peru (16) 2.5-0.5; Finland (16) lost to Greece (18) 0.5-2.5; Uzbekistan (18) beat Malaysia (16) 2.5-0.5; Ecuador (15.5) v/s Argentina (15.5); Switzerland (17) drew with Belarus (17) 1.5-1.5.
