Vidit Gujrathi fought back from an inferior position to salvage an important draw to complement S.L. Narayanan’s brilliant victory on the third board as India and Uzbekistan drew 2-2 in their first round of the semifinals in the World team chess championship here on Thursday.
Nihal Sarin drew on the second board before S.P. Sethuraman squandered some early advantage to lose on the fourth board.
In the second round of the quarterfinals on Wednesday, France hit back with a 3-1 victory after India forced the tie-breaker.
The results (semifinals, first round): Uzbekistan drew with India 2-2 (Nodirbek Yakubboev drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Javokhir Sindarov drew with Nihal Sarin; Shamsiddin Vokhidov lost to S.L. Narayanan; Jakhongir Vakhidov bt S. P. Sethuraman); China drew with Spain 2-2.
Quarterfinals (second round): France bt India 3-1 (tie-breaker); India bt France 2.5-1.5 (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Jules Moussard lost to Nihal Sarin; Laurent Fressinet lost to S.L. Narayanan; Maxime Lagarde bt K. Sasikiran);
China drew with Poland 2-2; Spain bt Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5; Uzbekistan bt Ukraine 1.5-2.5).
