Women rise as men fall

On a mixed day for India at the 32nd Chess Olympiad, the women’s team defeated Bulgaria to move up to joint third but the men’s team slipped to tied 10th following their loss to France in the seventh round. Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes helped India women to a 2.5-1.5 victory over Bulgaria.

The Indian men went down 1.5-2.5 to France after Grandmaster P. Harikrishna succumbed to young Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

On the top board, GM Krishnan Sasikiran played out a draw with Etienne Bacrot while on the third and fourth tables Surya Sekhar Ganguly and G.N. Gopal carved out similar results against Laurent Fressinet and Vladislav Tkachiev.