India defeat Armenia to take lead
30 Nov 2008, 2257 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: The Indian junior team defeated Armenia 2.5-1.5 in the first match to take a 1-0 lead at the India-Armenia Friendship chess tournament Russian Center For Science and Culture on Sunday.
World Junior Champion Abhijeet Gupta and B Adhiban turned out to be the winner amongst Indians, defeating 2006 world junior champion Zaven Andriasian and Samvel Ter Sahakyan respectively on the top and fourth board.
Grandmaster S Arun Prasad played out a draw with GM Hrant Melkumyan to ensure an Indian victory after G Rohti was outdone by GM Avetik Grigoryan on the third board.
The Indians, slightly inferior in terms of average ratings, got a 1-0 lead in the three match contest and the Armenians are expected to hit back harder in the next match on Monday.
Displaying the form he possessed in his world junior triumph, Abhijeet bruised and squeezed the defenses of Andriasian on the top board in a Sicilian defense game. The Armenian was at sea once Abhijeet got his attack rolling on the queen side against white’s king and even though Andriasian sacrificed an exchange, the Indian was simply remorseless.
The dye was cast on the 29th move when Abhijeet initiated the final assault and nine moves later India scored first victory in the match. In the another game, Adhiban played true to his attacking style in a Sicilian Scheveningen defense game where Sahakyan was outdone in the middle game.
Taking a cue from an earlier played game, Adhiban went for a less played system on the 17th move and Sahakyan took a lot of time to determine his course of action.
Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
India rules!