Vantika helps Indian women draw with USA at Chess Olympiad

Vantika Agrawal

International Master Vantika Agrawal delivered when it mattered most as she defeated Grandmaster Irina Krush, helping India secure a 2-2 draw against United States in the ninth round of the women's section of the 45th Chess Olympiad here on Friday.

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The Indian think tank rested an out-of-form Grandmaster D Harika but it did not change the fortunes much on the top board as R Vaishali went down to Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova while Divya Deskhmukh played out an easy draw as black against Carissa Yip. On the fourth board, Tania Sachdev, who had a position of strength, could not find the best attacking moves to force matters and settled for a draw with Alice Lee. This left Vantika to equalise the score and the youngster played with a lot of heart and commitment to beat her higher-rated opponent as black.

The draw took India to 15 points and it looks like the team will now need two wins to keep the gold medal chances alive.

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