The Indian women team struck gold in the blitz event at the Asian Nations Cup Chess 2018 held in Iran. The women squad scored 13 points, pushing Vietnam (12) and China (9) behind. The team featured D. Harika, R. Vaishali, Eesha Karvade, Padmini Rout and Aakanksha Hagawane. Eesha and Padmini are International Masters, while Vaishali and Aakanksha are Women International Masters. The fifth member of the team, Harika, is a Grandmaster.
The men, however, had to settle for the fourth spot, with eight points, behind Iran Green (14), China (12) and Vietnam (10).
In Rapid Women section, India settled for a silver with 17 points. China won gold with 23.5 points while home team of Iran Green settled for a bronze medal. In the Classical category, Indian women ended up with bronze. The men’s team won the silver in this category. The men, comprising B. Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman, K. Sasikiran, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Abhijeet Gupta, finished with 10 points to take the runner-up spot behind champion Iran Green (13 points). In the final round, India thrashed Iran White 3.5-0.5.
