India men beat Netherlands in Chess Olympiad
BATUMI,GEORGIA: The Indian men came back into the reckoning for a medal at the Chess Olympiad after defeating a strong Netherlands team 3-1 while the women won 3-1 against Peru to keep hopes alive for a top five finish in the 43rd Chess Olympiad here on Thursday.
The Indian think-tank finally rested Viswanthan Anand, probably saving him for the final contest on Friday as they might still have a chance to hit at the medal depending upon how other results shape up.
Krishnan Sasikiran and B Adhiban won convincingly against Jorden Van Foreest and Loek van Wely respectively on the third and fourth board while P Harikrishna played out a worthy hard-fought draw with Anish Giri on the top board.
Vidit Gujrathi drew with Erwin L’ami. A 3.5-0.5 victory might just help in boosting India’s chances in the last round.
The Indian women’s team should have won 4-0 but for a blunder by Koneru Humpy in what looked like a winning position. Humpy mistimed her tactical finesse and ended on the losing side against Deysi Cori.
BIHAR WIN
NADIAD: Meanwhile, Bihar thrashed Manipur by eight wickets to record their sixth win and inch closer to the quarter-final berth.
Chasing a paltry 173, Bihar cruised to the target in 29.1 overs with Babul Kumar (100*) and MD Rahmatullah (50)* steering their innings in a plate group fixture.
Back from cricket exile after nearly 18 years, Bihar now have 26 points from seven matches, with one being abandoned, as they face Mizoram in their final plate group league fixture at Vadodara on October 8.
Earlier, Yashpal Singh waged a lone battle for Manipur against Bihar, scoring an unbeaten 134 after they opted to bat at the GS Patel Stadium here.
Rehan Khan (3/39) and Anunay Singh (2/24) rattled Manipur’s start and the latter also effected a run-out to reduce them to 37/5 inside 21 overs.
Yashpal was the lone batsman standing for Manipur as they were restricted to 172/8 in the stipulated 50 overs.
In another match, Puneet Bisht’s 149 from 106 balls helped Meghalaya beat Sikkim by 149 runs at the Shastri Maidan in Anand.
Meghalaya piled up 315/5 with skipper Jason Lamare giving support to Bisht in a 145-run partnership for the third wicket.
NO RESULT
ALUR: All three matches in the Elite Group A ended inconclusive on Thursday as rain played spoilsport.
There were three clashes — Baroda versus Himachal Pradesh, Goa versus Punjab and Karnataka versus Railways — which were scheduled but neither got completed. All teams shared two points each.
Brief Scores: Delhi 284/8 in 50 ovs (Rana 107, Shorey 67) beat Madhya Pradesh 209 all out in 42.4 ovs (Yadav 5/25) by 75 runs; Odisha 197 all out in 49.2 ovs (BB Samantray 62, J Unadkat 3/39) beat Saurashtra 145 all out in 38.4 ovs (GB Poddar 3/33) by 52 runs;
Meghalaya 315/5 in 50 ovs (P Bisht 149) beat Sikkim 166/9 in 50 ovs (G Singh 4/20) by 149 runs; Manipur 172/8 in 50 ovs (R Khan 3/39) lost to Bihar 176/2 in 29.1 ovs (B Kumar 100*, MD Rahmatullah 50*) by eight wickets;
Arunachal Pradesh 95 in 34.1 ovs (A Jain 5/13) lost to Puducherry 100/3 in 18.2 ovs by seven wickets.