World Team Chess Championship: India beat France to enter semis

India defeated France in the tie-breaker to enter the semi-finals of the FIDE World Team Chess Championship in Jerusalem.

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Both the teams were tied in the first two matches, after which blitz tie-breaker was resorted to, in which India won by a margin of 2.5-1.5. The heroes of India's victory were Nihal Sarin and SL Narayanan, who defeated Jules Moussard and Laurent Fressinet respectively.

India's top player Vidit Gujrathi held French star Maxime Vachier Lagrave to a draw in 45 moves, while K Sasikiran was defeated by Maxime Lagarde in 55 moves. In such a situation, with the victory of Sarin and Narayanan, India was able to move forward. India will face Uzbekistan in the semi-finals of the World Team Chess Championship. Uzbekistan made it to the last four by defeating Ukraine. Uzbekistan won the first match 3-1 against Ukraine and took the next 2.5-1.5 to march into the semifinals.

Earlier in the opening match, Gujrathi defeated Lagrave while Narayanan defeated Freysnet. Sarin and Sasikiran drew their games so that India won the match 3-1. France, however, won the second match by the same margin and dragged the match to the tiebreaker.

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In the second match, Lagrave defeated Gujarati while Fresinet defeated Narayanan. Sarin and Sasikiran again played their games in a draw. In other matches, Spain defeated Azerbaijan and China to enter the semi-finals where these two teams will face each other. Spain and Azerbaijan tied their first match 2-2 with games on all four boards ending in draws before the former claimed the second 2.5-1.5 to set up a semifinal clash against China, a winner over Poland.