Indian men go down to Ukraine

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May 29, 2006 15:08 IST

Indian men suffered their second defeat in the Chess Olympiad going down to defending champion Ukraine in the seventh round while their women counterparts were outdone by United States in quick time in Turin, Italy.

After Viswanathan Anand drew with former World championship challenger Vassily Ivanchuk on the top board, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran also signed peace pact besides GM Sandipan Chanda.

But a shocking loss on the third board by former world junior champion P Harikrishna cost dearly to the Indians as they lost by a narrow 1.5-2.5 margin in the end.

Overnight sole leader Armenia had it easy with a 3-1 victory over giant killer Netherlands with a 3-1 margin in this round, the Russian men were sitting pretty with a 3-0 score and one game in hand against Belarus.

The Indian women had a bad day for the first time in the women's Olympiad, being played simultaneously, as they were thrashed by the US by a huge 0.5-2.5 margin.

The loss for the Indian eves - worried by health problem of Koneru Humpy -- was really shocking as they had been doing quite well so far in the event. Humpy was rested for the first time in the Olympiad while Swati Ghate and Mary Ann Gomes also cited health problems.

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