India draw with China: Chess Olympiad

TURIN, (Italy): Indian men's team survived a scare before settling for a 2-2 draw with China in the fifth round of the 37th edition of the Chess Olympiad here.

Viswanathan Anand and National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly survived a few anxious moments before settling for draws with Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua respectively.

On the second a third boards, Krishnan Sasikriand and P Harikrishna also signed peace with Zhang Zhong and Wang Yue respectively. In the next round, the Indians are slated to play a strong German team.

On a day that witnessed top five matches ending in draws, Russia and Armenia retained joint lead after a truce between them. Both the teams took their tally to 15.5 points each and are followed by rejuvenated Holland on 15 points.

Uzbekistan is at fourth on 14.5 points while a pack of seven teams, including United States, are next in line having 14 points each.

The draw proved costly for the second-seeded Indian men who were pushed to joint 11th spot. Eight rounds still remain in the biggest biennial chess spectacle.