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India went down 1-3 to Uzbekistan in the semifinal of the FIDE World Team chess Championship on Friday. The two teams shared honours in the first round at 2-2 scoreline with S L Narayanan’s superb win with black pieces over Shamsiddin Vokhidov being offset by S P Sethuraman’s loss to Jakhongir Vokhidov. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew with Nordirbek Yakubboev on the top board, followed by an identical result in the tie between Nihal Sarin and Javokhir Sindharov.
In the second round, Gujrathi and Sarin lost to Yakubboev and Sindharov respectively.
Narayanan beat Vokhidov in 44 moves but that was not enough as K Sasikiran, playing on the fourth board in place of Sethuraman, drew with Sindharov to hand Uzbekistan, winner of the Open title in the Chess Olympiad earlier this year, a 2.5-1.5 victory for a place in the final.
A win in a round gives a team two points while a draw is worth one point.
In the other semifinal, China got the better of Spain to advance to the summit clash. After the first round saw honours being shared, China won the second 3-1 to book a final clash with the Uzbeks.
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Meanwhile, India will meet Spain in the battle for the third place later on Friday. PTI SS PDS PDS
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