International Master Vantika Agrawal delivered the goods when it was badly needed, defeating Grandmaster Irina Krush to force a 2-2 draw against the United States while the Indian men stayed in sole lead after splitting points with Uzbekistan in the ninth round of the of the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
The Indian think-tank rested an out-of-form Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika but it did not change the fortunes on the top board as Rameshbabu Vaishali went down to Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. On the second board, Divya Deshmukh settled for the peace result in an uneventful game with black against Carissa Yip.
On the fourth board, Tania Sachdev had almost everything going in her favour but could not find the knock-out blow when the opportunity came to share the point with Alice Lee.
It was left to Vantika to equalise the score and the young girl played with a lot of heart and commitment to beat her higher-rated opponent. For the record, Krush blundered in mutual time pressure and Vantika was remorseless in her attack.
The draw took India to 15 points, and they will now probably need two victories in the last two rounds to keep the gold medal chances alive.
Kazakhstan emerged as the new sole leader in this section on 16 points, defeating Poland 2.5-1.5. Alua Nurman played the star performer for Kazakh women as she won on the fourth board against Alicja Sliwicka after the top three boards had ended in draws.
With Kazakhstan in front, India is in sole second position and they are trailed by as many as nine teams on 14 points each. In the penultimate round, Kazakhstan will face another stiff test against second seed Georgia, while the Indian women will take on a depleted China.
In the Open section, the Indian men conceded their first point with four draws against defending champions Uzbekistan. After eight straight victories, the ninth win, which would have almost sealed the gold medal, was pretty much on the cards when Arjun Erigaisi's opponent Shamsiddin Vokhidov blundered.
It was a mutual oversight by both players as Arjun failed to spot a tactic which he would have normally found in a few seconds. Once Arjun slipped, Shamsiddin did not give another chance and drew rather comfortably.
At the top of the tables, Dommaraju Gukesh played out an easy draw with white pieces against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The Sicilian defense did not yield the usual complications and the game petered out into a draw in just 32 moves vide repetition.
On the second board, Rameshbaby Praggnanandhaa also got the same result against Javokhir Sindarov while on the fourth, Vidit Gujrathi was the first to finish his game against Jakhongir Vakhidov.
The Indian men took their tally to 17 points from nine rounds and will have the all-important clash against top seed United States, who scored a hard-earned 2.5-1.5 victory over hosts Hungary.
The US team shares the second spot on 15 points alongside Uzbekistan and China.
Important Results (Round 9)
Open: India (17) drew with Uzbekistan (15) 2-2 (D Gukesh drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov; Javokhir Sindarov drew with R Praggnanandhaa; Arjun Erigaisi drew with Shamsiddin Vokhidov; Jakhongir Vakhidov drew with Vidit Gujrathi); USA (15) beat Hungary (14) 2.5-1.5; China (15) beat Iran (13) 2.5-1.5; Norway (12) lost to Slovenia (14) 1-3; Armenia (14) beat Germany (12) 2.5-1.5.
Women: USA (14) drew with India (15) 2-2 (Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova beat R Vaishali; Divya Deshmukh drew with Carissa Yip; Irina Krush lost to Vantika Agrawal; Tania Sachdev drew with Alice Lee); Kazakhstan (16) beat Poland (14) 2.5-1.5; Ukraine (14) drew with Armenia (14) 2-2; France (12) lost to Georgia (14) 0.5-3.5; China (14) beat Turkey (12) 3-1.
Top standings after 9 rounds:
Open: 1. India – 17 points; 2-4. USA, Uzbekistan, China – 15 points each; 5-9. Slovenia, Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, Armenia – 14 points each.
Women: 1. Kazakhstan – 16; 2. India – 15; 3-11. China, Armenia, Poland, USA, Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Georgia, Vietnam – 14 each.
