India women were thrashed 1-3 by table toppers Russia while the men were held to a 2-2 draw by Turkey in the sixth round of the World Team Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia on Friday.
With the loss, the women’s team dropped two places to fifth spot on the table with 12.5 points while the men were still fifth with 13.5 points with three rounds to go. The men’s team will face Ukraine next while the women’s team will face China in round seven.
In the women’s event, D Harika drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk on the top board while Eesha Karavade also registered a draw with Kateryna Lagno on the second board. However, Padmini Rout and Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman lost their respective encounters to Valentina Gunina and Olga Girya to hand Russia an easy 1-3 win in the end.
In the men’s clash, Vidit Gujarathi settled for a draw against Turkey’s Solak Dragan on the top board and Parimarjan Negi also split points against Muhammed Batuhan Dastan on the fourth board. But on the second and third board respectively, B Adhiban lost to Mustafa Yilmaz while K Sasikiran defeated Emre Can to level scores.
