Chess Olympiad: Indian teams eye glory as tournament reaches its business end

The other two home teams appear to have fallen behind after starting well and will need some catching up to doThe Indian teams have been at the forefront in the 44th Chess Olympiad thus far with India A at the top of the standings in the womens section and the B team in third position in the Open event after six roundsThe tournament has now entered its business endThe Koneru Humpyled India A is unbeaten in six matches and takes on Azerbaijan on Friday A win would further the teams cause and probably help pull away from the rest of the fieldThe other two home teams appear to have fallen behind after starting well and will need some catching up to doAs Humpy said after the win over Georgia on Wednesday they will have to play many more tough teams like Ukraine and so on in the days to comeAlso one of the players has risen to the occasion at various stages and the experienced Tania Sachdev has provided the allimportant win a couple of times as has R VaishaliOur team spirit is high and whenever in need of a victory always any one player from the team would shine she addedHaving started as the No1 seed Humpy and Co are expected to land a medal given the manner in which they have played in the first half of the OlympiadHowever it is important that the players keep their composure and continue to perform as they have so farAlso Read SA skipper happy to see competition for places ahead of T20 World CupIn the open event the India B team which includes a bunch of talented teenagers R Praggnanandhaa inform D Gukesh and Raunak Sadhwani apart from the experienced B Adhiban saw its fivematch winning streak halted by Armenia in the sixth round on WednesdayGukesh has been on a splendid streak winning all his six games so far and will be expected to lead the B teams charge in the coming days The squad needs to maintain the high standards to lay its hands on a medalThe secondranked India A team which is in sixth spot will also be eyeing a strong finish and given the pedigree of the squad members it could be in the reckoning for a medalInterestingly the A team would run into the hosts C team in the seventh round and a keen match is on the cards Though the No2 seeds with P Harikrishna Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi in the ranks should be favourites they would not be taking their opponents lightlyWith five rounds still to be played in the sports showpiece the contests are expected to become stifferIndian teams pairings for Round 7 Open Section India A vs India C Cuba vs India BWomen Azerbaijan vs India A India B vs Greece India C vs SwitzerlandThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever