India A Men continue to dominate as India A Women Stumble

Men

Today, round four, in a clash of favourites, we had Vietnam looking to halt India A's seemingly unstoppable progress towards Gold. In the end however India prevailed 2.5-1.5 but it was hard going all the way with Surya Shekar Ganguly (see above photo) and captain Krishan Sasikiran making the difference against Vietnam's sole win by Le Quang Liem.

Indonesia, still smarting from their humiliating defeat the previous round against India A, took on the still unbeaten Iran side but were well beaten by a team which continued their title challenge with a comprehensive 1-3 victory.

Lower down, Sri Lanka played Bangladesh who proved to be too strong an opponent, and with their 1-3 win, successfully leapfrogged up the standings, while Singapore only lost 1.5-2.5 after taking the fight to an India B side who cannot be satisfied yet with their performance to date despite having drawn tough matches every round so far.

In the final match, honours were even between Yemen and Nepal 2-2.

Standings:
1. India A 8 pts; 2. Iran 7 pts; 3. Vietnam 5 pts; 4-6. India B, Indonesia, Bangladesh 4 pts; 7. Sri Lanka 3 pts; 8-9. Singapore, Yemen 2 pts; 10. Nepal 1 pt.


Women

Co-leader Vietnam took on Iran on top board and won a tense encounter 2.5-1.5 while the other co-leader India A lost 1.5-2.5 against India B.

Bhakti Kulkarni (see photo above) provided the decisive point for India B in a serious set back to India A's hope of emerging as champions.
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In the meantime Bangladesh fell to Singapore 0-4 and Sri Lanka were also big winners with a 4-0 score against Nepal as the Indonesians, with the 2-2 bye, enjoyed the day off (by coming to watch the games!).

Standings:
1.Vietnam 7 pts; 2-4. India A, India B, Singapore 5 pts; 5-6. Iran, Indonesia 4 pts; 7. Sri Lanka 3 pts; 8. Bangladesh 2 pts; 9. Nepal 1 pt.

Merry Christmas!

(These wonderful Indian women wish us all Merry Christmas!)

(While the new Chief Arbiter promises not to be tough)

(And Irene Sukandar will take your photo with Santa Claus!)

India A Men Take Sole Lead After Three Rounds

Men

In a powerful display, India A took the sole lead with maximum points after a comprehensive victory 3.5-0.5 over a young Indonesian team, the rout beginning with P Harikishnan who finally hit form after successive draws, and he was then joined by his captain Sasikiran Krishnan and Deepan Chakkravarthy J who eventually ground down their opponents.

(India A vs Indonesia)

Vietnam and Iran however remained very much in contention with 3-1 and 3.5-0.5 wins over India B and Singapore respectively to remain just one point behind.

In the bottom half of the draw, Bangladesh took its first points with an easy victory 4-0 over Yemen while Sri Lanka moved up to three points with a hard fought 2.5-1.5 win over Nepal after handicapping a walkover when their board four could not make the game in time from the airport.


Women

In a top of the table clash, favourites India A and Vietnam met, and after India A took a 2-0 lead Vietnam fought back to tie 2-2. Harika Dronavelli and Tania Sachdev won for India while Nguyen Thi Thanh An and Hoang Thi Nhu Y with late wins ensured the draw for Vietnam. 

(Hoang Thi Nhu Y started the Vietnam recovery, her win reducing the score to 1-2)

Singapore's run also came to an end against an experienced Iran side and so suffered a 0-4 whitewash, Bangladesh surprised Indonesia 2-2 while India B, as expected, crushed Nepal 4-0, and it was Sri Lanka's turn to enjoy.time off with a 2-0 bye.

Stressful Our There?

Battle of India: Team A is Victorious

Men

Today, round two, we saw the battle of India with India B taking on India A and the seniors showed who was boss with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory, only giving up only one draw when P Harikrishna allowed a repetition by young B Adhiban in an unclear position, and in doing so bringing their title challenge right back on track.

(India A leader Krishnan Sasikiran rejoined his team to help seal a convincing 3.5-0.5 win against India B together with fellow heavyweights Ganguly and Negi.).

But perhaps the most intriguing match up this round was the encounter between the two other fancied teams and the expected threats to India's favourite tag, Vietnam and Iran, and in the end honours were shared 2-2.

Probably the hardest fought match was expected to be Bangladesh-Indonesia as that result might just determine the top place amongst those outside of the medals but it was surprisingly easy for Indonesia in the end as they romped home 3.5-0.5 and so announced they were serious medal contenders.

Of the less fancied teams, Nepal was no match for Singapore, losing 0-4 while Yemen against Sri Lanka was the identical 4-0 score.

Standings:
1-2. India A, Indonesia 4 pts; 3-4 Vietnam, Iran 3 pts; 5-6. India B, Singapore 2 pts; 7-8. Yemen, Sr Lanka 1 pt; 9-10. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka 0 pt.


Women

Iran's reward for its 4-0 win over Sri Lanka was an early match up with India A, probably a good time as the top seeds are still finding its best form. At the same time, Indian B had the chance to do damage to the other favourite Vietnam.

Both these matches progressed slowly, and in the end India A won 3-1 over Iran, again on the back of captain Harika Dronavalli's early win and then a late contribution by veteran Tania Sachdev (see photo above), but India B found Vietnam simply too strong and went down 1-3.

Nepal played the first round's surprise team Singapore and was trounced 0-4, and it was the same with Indonesia which was looking for and won big against Sri Lanka, 4-0, while Bangladesh got the dreaded bye and 2-0 result.

Standings:
1-2. India A, Vietnam 4 pts; 3. Singapore 3 pts; 4-5. Iran, Indonesia 2 pts, 6-8. India B, Bangladesh, Nepal 1 pt; 9. Sri Lanka 0 pt.

Victoria Memorial - A Must See in Kolkata

With the first round successfully underway, our Chief Arbiter, R Anatharam, decided to take two hours off in the morning (of course only after the team lists were submitted and the pairings made) to check out some of Kolkata's landmarks.

Our hotel is off course fortunately situated perfectly for the tourist and Victoria Memorial, just a 10 minute ride by car (even in less than ideal traffic) is perhaps the city's best known landmark and so off we went.

Unfortunately it was a slightly foggy day and we were not allowed to take photos in the interior as other than being a tribute to Queen Victoria, first Empress of India (as part of the British Empire) in the capital city they founded as it is also an historical art gallery.

But we did our best and really enjoyed the outing in a beautiful morning in sunshine without the heat as the photos that follow will show:

Here we are at the entrance of Victoria Memorial. Entry is 10 Rupees unless you are a foreigner in which case we have to support tourism with 150 Ruppees! Of course our Chief Arbiter never travels anywhere without his devoted wife!

This is the entrance beyond which photos are not allowed and all I can say is the architecture is amazing and exhibits very informative indeed.

Every the adventurous man, Anantharam decided we should try the bridge before returning to the hotel. With traffic starting to build up our driver was smart enough to instead swing us over the new bridge and not the famous Howrah bridge (where we were assured we would suffer up to a five hour delay!). It also helps when we were riding in a Vehicle marked Kolkata Police.

Yes, we did make it back for lunch at 12 noon!

Report: Round One

Men

With match points being used there were no surprises, Indian A beating Bangladesh 2.5-1.5 courtesy of Negi Parimarjan's win (see photo below), Vietnam just allowing Singapore half a point in a 3.5-0.5 win, and Iran, Indian B, and Indonesia blanking  Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Nepal respectively 4-0.

So India has "dropped off" the lead on games points. But Bangladesh was always going to offer a fight, and with ten teams and seven rounds it is just the start of a long war!


Women

(Reliable?: Vietnam's Le Thao Nguygen Pham, India's Dronavalli Harika, Iran's Atousa Pourkashiyan)


It was much more exciting with the women, India A easing past Indonesia 2.5-1.5 with three decisive games and Singapore then pulling off the biggest surprise of the tournament (for now?) with a 2-2 draw with India B whom they may even hoped to have beaten/

Vietnam dropped an unexpected point in a 3-1 win against Bangladesh, while Iran proved much too experienced for a young Sri Lanka side to record the only 4-0 win.

And Nepal got the curse of the bye and a 2-0 result.