Harika wins again in China
JIAXING, CHINA: Grand Master Harika Dronavalli scored her second victory and helped her team Shandong reach joint top position in the Chinese Chess League here on Monday.
It was a crucial game for Harika as her team had fallen behind. Playing with white, she forced victory in 34 moves against Shengzin Zhao of Team Hangzhou.
“I outplayed my opponent positionally. All the other boards of my team ended in draws and I succeeded in sealing a win which was crucial for my team. I am really happy to contribute towards my team’s success, in helping them climb to the top,” she said.
P Harikrishna, India’s other Grand Master in the fray in the elite tournament, drew his game against Yu Yangyi of team Beijing. Hari is representing Team Shanghai.
The Chinese Chess League is an annual elite tournament, comprising of 12 teams. The elite league is played from April to December, over 22 rounds in six 3-4 day sessions. The current leg will end on July 26. Each match is played over five boards, with women playing on two of them.
VIRDI GRABS TOP SLOT ON PROLOGUE DAY 2
DONA PAULA, GOA: In an exciting turn of events, Chandigarh’s Gurmeet Virdi and co-driver Kirpal Singh Tung of Gerrari Offroaders Chandigarh climbed up the ranks and took the lead on the second day of Force Gurkha RFC India.
Gurmeet, who was at 3rd position after day 1 of India’s toughest off-road motorsport event, per formed well in Prologue Special Stages (SS) 7-12 with 90 points in three of the stages. He has a total score of 987 out of 1,200.
The Force Motors team of Merwyn Lim and co-driverhami zan Bin Abdul Hamid retained the 2nd position with 985 points while Tan Eng Joo and Tan Choon Hong the second Malaysian driver rep resenting Force Motors, slipped down from the top slot to the 3rd position with 957 points.
DABANG DELHI LOSE THRILLER TO PATNA
NEW DELHI: Dabang Delhi’s hopes of making the semifinals suf fered a big setback as they lost a thrilling encounter 31-32 to Patna Pirates in the Pro Kabadd League on Monday.
Pirates remain top of the league with 52 points from 13 games whereas Delhi are seventh in the table with 27 points from 12 games Delhi, who needed to win all four of remaining games, now have slim chance of making it to the semifinals.