Asia Team Championship, Jodhpur (India)
GM Darmen Sadvakasov (Kazakhstan):
"This time, it has been held in Jodhpur, India, where 12 national
teams participated. It is the second city in Rajistan state, not a
big one according to the Indian standards with population slightly
less than one and half million. India, being the host country, was
represented by three teams – A, B and C. Team A was extremely
strong featuring Sasikirian, Ganguly, Harikrishna and Kunte. Team
B was lead by the ‘super-girl’ player Humpy Koneru (possessing
the male grandmaster title!), while team C contained several young
and firm international masters rated about 2450, with Neelotpal on
the board one. Performance of the younger Indian teams was quite sensational.
Team B beat the Chinese, team C beat us, the Kazakh team, which affected
distribution of the prizes drastically!
The Chinese team had been leading during the tournament until it suddenly
lost to the Indian B team in round 7, when the Indian A team beat
some weak opponents with crushing 4-0 and overtook the lead! Then
the Kazakh team made a perfect gift to the Chinese by beating the
Indian A team 2.5-1.5 in round 8. (It is interesting that we played
against all the three Indian teams having lost to the C team 1.5-2.5,
drawn the match with the B team and beat the A team!) The Chinese
cheered up, won 4-0 in the last round and obtained the first prize
confidently."
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Games commented by
GM D. Sadvakasov
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