Mardin, Turkey: India scored an emphatic 4-0 victory over South Africa and jumped to joint second spot after the third round of the World Women's Team Chess Championship on Wednesday.
Taking it easy, mainstay Koneru Humpy was rested for tougher battles ahead while D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Padmini Rout and Soumya Swaminathan scored fine victories to keep the team in contention for a medal in the premier team event.
On a tough day for higher seeds, overnight joint leaders Georgia were defeated 1-3 by the Vietnamese, while hosts Turkey sprang a major surprise and defeated Ukraine 2.5-1.5.
The Russian women also could only manage a 2-2 draw with Greece, who opened their account in match points after two losses.
The Chinese girls, meanwhile, continued with the demolition act and their 4-0 drubbing of the Armenians put them in sole lead with six match points.
India and Russia share the second spot with five match points but the Indians are ahead at this juncture with 9.5 game points, compared to Russia's 7.5 points. Georgia and Vietnam are not far behind the leaders with four points apiece, while Armenia and Turkey share the sixth spot with two points each.
Ukraine, with just a lone draw with India in the opener, stand eighth alongside Greece while the South African eves are yet to open their account in this 10-team round-robin tournament.
In Humpy's absence, Harika took charge of the top board and displayed top form to beat Cecile Van Der Merwe with black pieces. Opening with the Modern defence as black, Harika quickly got in to an active position and capitalised on an error by Cecile to win a couple of pawns. It was all over quickly thereafter.
Tania Sachdev was made to work hard for her first victory in the tournament by Anzels Solomons. It was a Slav defence by Anzels and Tania got a slightly better position that demanded precise play. Tania won a pawn on the queen side in the final stages of the game and just while her pawn was marching to glory, Anzels called it a day.
Padmini Rout had it easy against Denise Frick on the third board out of a closed Sicilian that lasted 32 moves, while Soumya outclassed Lauren Van Niekerk in a mere 27 moves.
In other interesting games of the day, Yildiz Betul Cemre of Turkey defeated Anna Ushenina of Ukraine while her teammate Kubra Ozturk scored over Inna Gaponenko. The Turk girls got a draw on the third board to ensure a minimal victory.
Russia and Greece shared one victory each on the last two boards and Vietnam won on board two and four against Georgia to keep themselves in the reckoning.
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