Chess Olympiad: Indian men beat Czech Republic, Hungarian eves shock Indian women

Krishnan Sasikiran guided Indian men to a 2.5-1.5 win over Czech Republic but the women's team suffered a shocking 1-3 defeat against Hungary in the eighth round of the 43rd chess Olympiad here Tuesday.

On a day when Indian think-tank decided to rest P Harikrishna, the best Indian performer so far, Viswanathan Anand was held to an easy draw by David Navarra, Vidit Gujrathi tried hard before splitting points with Viktor Laznicka on the second board and B Adhiban also drew with Hracek Zbynek on the third board in the first game.

However, the decision to rest Harikrishna was justified by Sasikiran who played a crushing game to outwit Ziri Stocek on the fourth board.

With 13 points in their kitty now, the Indian men assured themselves of a joint third place with three rounds still to come in the biggest chess event.

The United States are likely to be the sole leader as they cruised to a 2.5-1.5 victory over Azerbaijan while Poland stands third following a 2-2 draw with Armenia.

In the ...