World team chess: India edges out France, reaches last four

Representational images. Pic/iStock

India defeated France in a thrilling tie-breaker to enter the semifinals of the FIDE World Team Chess Championship here.

After the two sets of matches were shared by the teams by a 3-1 margin, the Indians won the blitz tie-break 2.5-.1.5. Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan did the star turn with victories over Jules Moussard and Laurent Fressinet respectively early on Thursday.

Vidit Gujrathi, India's top player, held the top French star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw in 45 moves while the experienced K Sasikiran was beaten by Maxime Lagarde in 55 moves but the wins by Sarin and Narayanan did the trick.

Also read: World Team Chess Championship: India beats Azerbaijan, goes down to Uzbekistan

India will take on Uzbekistan in the semifinals later on Thursday night.

Earlier in the first of the two matches, Gujrathi pulled off a win over Lagrave and Narayanan defeated Fressinet. Draws for Sarin and Sasikiran ensured a comprehensive 3-1 win.

France turned the tables in the second match with Lagrave beating Gujrathi and Fressinet getting the better of Naryanan. Sarin and Sasikiran held their higher rated opponents-Moussard and Tigran Gharamian to draws. The two wins and the 3-1 win helped the Frenchman level the quarterfinal tie.

Uzbekistan won the first match 3-1 against Ukraine and took the next 2.5-1.5 to march into the semifinals.

Spain and Azerbaijan tied their first match 2-2 with games on all four boards ending in draws before the former claimed the second 2.5-1.5 to set up a semifinal clash against China, a winner over Poland.

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