Former Asian queen Tania Sachdev continued her dream run as Indian eves roared back to medal contention with an easy 2.5-1.5 triumph over Vietnam in the eighth round of the Women’s chess Olympiad here.
Tania scored her seventh victory in eight games, which currently stands amongst the best performances in the Olympiad. The Delhi girl worked hard with back-to-back training camps before coming to Istanbul and the result seems a just reward.
Thanks to another win, the Indian women now find themselves within striking distance of a medal.
The eves jumped to joint second spot after China defeated Poland by a 3-1 margin on the top board and reached 14 points out of a possible sixteen.
The Indian team shares the second spot with Russia, France and Uzbekistan on 13 points each and a big test awaits the ladies when they meet second seeded Russia in the next round.
The Indians lost to China, conceded a lone draw to Serbia besides winning six matches so far.
On the top board, D. Harika played out a draw with Pham Le Thao Nguyen after surviving a difficult position. On the second board, the form of Eesha Karavade remained a cause of concern for the Indians as she lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.
Tania delivered the goods on the third board as black against Le Kieu Thien Kim, while national women’s champion Mary Ann Gomes chipped in by beating Pham Bich Ngoc on the fourth board to complete an Indian triumph.
With just three more rounds to go, the Indians would be hoping for a decent result tomorrow before they can put in their best effort in the last two rounds.
In the open section, the Indian men missed the thread once again and were held to a 2-2 draw by Serbia.
Often reliable, Krishnan Sasikiran lost on the top board and the efforts of G N Gopal on the fourth board only salvaged the day as Parimarjan Negi spoiled yet another good position.