Spain moves into lead; Makwana helps India "A" defeat Romania

In the crucial top table game, Spain narrowly overcame United Kingdom 2.1-1.5 scoring in the lower boards.

Spain is followed by Russia, United Kingdom and Germany at eight points. A point behind is India 'A'.

Spain took the lead at the end of the first time control with Enjuto Velasco and Clemente Llamero scoring over Hilton Stephen and John Gallagher respectively.

Chris Ross brought one back for UK, scoring over Palacios Perez Manuel in the second board. With a point down position, Colin Crouch pushed hard in a rook and minor piece ending, but settled for a draw in the end.

The favourable result takes Spain on top of the leader-board with four rounds to go.

In the second table, Germany scored a comfortable 2.5-1.5 victory over Serbia moving to the second spot.

Joining Germany were Russia who beat Iran with wins on the first, third and fourth board in double quicktime.

India "A" scored a hard fought 3-1 win over Romania. After four hours of play, India managed to take a 2-1 lead, thanks to wins from Kishan Gangolli and Darpan Inani.

With the game evenly poised, it was left to National Blind Champion Makwana Ashvin who scored the crucial win over Bursuc Mihai in the last board. Makwana's win gave India "A" two valuable points.

In the lower board India "B" went down to Slovenia 1.5-2.5, reducing their further prospects in the event.

Tomorrow is a rest day.

Important Results of Round 5: United Kingdom (8) lost to Spain (10), Germany (8) beat Serbia (6), Russia (8) beat Iran (5), Venezuela (5) lost to Ukraine (7), Romania (4) lost to India "A" (7), Columbia (6) beat Croatia (4), Sweden (5) beat Bulgaria (4), India "B" (3) lost to Slovenia (5), Slovakia (4) beat France (3),Italy (4) beat South Africa (2) and Netherlands (1) lost to Turkey (3).