Chess Olympiad: Arjun Erigiasi, Tania Sachdev star as India A teams register wins in Round 5

Arjun Erigiasi and Tania Sachdev shone bright as the Indian A teams registered convincing victories in both the open and women's section in Round 5 of the ongoing Chess Olympiad 2022.

The 18-year-old Erigiasi won on demand after all his teammates - Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi and SL Narayanan, drew their respective games, to propel India A to a 2.5-1.5 win over Romania.

Tania Sachdev did the same once again as the India A team in the women's section registered their fifth consecutive win with the same scoreline against a strong team from France.

The current table toppers in Open section - the India B, team comprising of D Gukesh, B Adhiban, Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa, continued their winning run as they beat Spain 2.5-1.5. While Gukesh and Adhiban won their respective games, Nihal drew and Praggnanandhaa lost.

By the virtue of his win over Alexi Shirov, Gukesh also rose to become the new India number 3 ahead of veteran Vidit Gujrathi.

After a stumble against Spain yesterday, the India C team in the Open section bounced back with a 2.5-1.5 win over Chiile, thanks to victories from SP Sethuraman and Abhimanyu Puranik.

In the women's section, the India C team were held to a 2-2 draw by a lowly Brazil, while the India B team of Vantika Agarwal, Soumya Swaminathan, Padmini Rout and Divya Deshmukh fell to a 1-3 loss to a strong Georgia.