CHENNAI : After contrasting performances in the group stages, the Indian men's and women's teams are living up to expectations. Top seeds in both sections, the teams reached the finals of the Asian Nations Online chess championship on Saturday.
The men face Australia in Sunday’s summit clash. The women take on Indonesia.In the semifinals, the men’s team beat Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5 and 3-1. B Adhiban posted victories over Rinat Jumabayev on the top board in both his games.
In the first match, Nihal Sarin, SP Sethuraman and K Sasikiran drew their games. In the second, other than Adhiban, Sarin and Sethuraman posted wins, but Sasikiran lost to Denis Makhnev. Captain of the men’s team, Surya Sekhar Ganguly did not play on Saturday.
"Depth in squad is our biggest strength. Sometimes in team events you can have a player who is not that strong. But in our team, all of us are almost equal. Team spirit is important and you have to build it. Also, in 15-minute rapid games anything can happen. You have to believe that all those who are playing can do the job. That’s what has happened with us. It’s been a very decent performance so far," said Ganguly.
The women’s team posted 3.5-0.5 and 4-0 wins against Mongolia. R Vaishali, winner of the gold medal on the top board in the preliminary phase, won both her games against Batkhuyag Munguntuul. Padmini Rout and PV Nandhidhaa also posted wins in the first match, while captain Mary Ann Gomes drew. In the second match, there were wins for Vaishali, Bhakti Kulkarni, Rout and Nandhidhaa.
Mary did not play. The women had topped the group table on their way to the knockouts. Indonesia, their opponents in the final, finished sixth. India had beaten Indonesia 3-1 in the sixth round. On the other hand, the men were sixth after the league stage. Australia were fourth. Their ninth-round match had ended in a 2-2 draw.
"Indonesia are the second seeds and irrespective of what happened in our last match, our approach to this one would remain the same. We have shown team spirit and everyone has stepped up when required. In a team event it becomes difficult if one player is struggling. To our credit, everyone is eager to do well," said Mary.
This is a continuation of the good show by the team of late. After a disappointing outing in the Online Nations Cup in June, they bounced back to share gold medal in the Online Olympiad in August.