India wins against Moldova in Chess Olympiad

In a day of mixed results, the Indian open team Friday defeated Moldova 3.5-0.5 while the women's team split the points equally against Spain 2-2 at the World Chess Olympiad being held in Norway.

The Indian open team rested Grandmaster S.P. Sethuraman who has been playing well till now. Perhaps this was done to enable him to on a stronger opponent in the seventh round after a long rest.

"Playing continuously against high-rated players has its own pressure on the players," a senior chess player, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

On the top board, Indian GM Parimarjan Negi playing the Ruy Lopez opening with white pieces made a short work against higher rated GM Victor Bologan to wrap up the game in 29 moves.

The second board saw GM K. Sasikiran splitting the point with GM Dmitry Svetushkin.

Indian GM B. Adhiban won his game against International Master (IM) Valdimir Hamitevici with a piece extra.

Playing on the fourth board, Indian GM Lalith Babu M.R. had a fluent win over Liviu Cerbulenco.

In the women's section, Indian GM Harika Dronavalli did not have any problem against her Spanish IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez opponent to wrap up the point in 45 moves.

While IM Eesha Karavade and WGN Mary Ann Gomes lost their games, fourth board player Padmini Rout saved the day for India by her win.