World Team Chess Championship: India beat Azerbaijan, but lost to Uzbekistan

India beat Azerbaijan in the third round of Pool B but lost to Uzbekistan in the fourth round of the FIDE World Team Chess Championship. Viditi Santosh Gujarati’s win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov helped India beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5 on Monday. Three other games were drawn. Nihal Sarin shared points with Timur Radjabov, SL Narayanan shared points with Gadir Gusenova and K Sasikiran shared points with Rauf Mamedov.

But the team suffered a 0.5–3–5 defeat against Uzbekistan in the fourth round, with only Narayanan holding out a draw against Shamsiddin Vokhidov. Gujrati was defeated by lower-ranked Nadyrbek Yakuboev while Zovkhir Sindarov defeated Sarin. Zakhongir Vakhidov defeated Abhijit Gupta in 51 moves. It was a very bad day for the US who had to face defeat in both their matches on Monday. Uzbekistan and hosts Israel won by the same margin of 2.5–1.5 over the United States.

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Only Uzbekistan from Pool B is assured of a place in the quarterfinals. Five other teams including India have a chance to qualify for the next stage. It will depend on the result of the fifth and final round. India will face America. In Pool A, China, France and Ukraine have reached the quarterfinals. The last places in the quarterfinals are expected to go to Spain or the Netherlands. Spain has the upper hand in this.