Kolkata, Dec 26 :The India A men's team inched closer to the title, beating Iran convincingly 3.5-0.5 in the fifth round of the Asian Team Chess Championship here Saturday.

With two more rounds remaining, India A are now in a commanding position with 10 points, with their nearest rivals Iran and Vietnam being three points behind on seven points apiece.

Only Indian captain K. Sasikiran was held to a draw by GM Elshan Moradiabadi , while P. Harikrishna, S. S. Ganguly and Parimarjan Negi won their games comfortably at the Town Hall.

The Bangladesh men's team were overwhelmed by the all-GM Vietnam team, and India B trounced minnows Nepal 4-0 to take their tally to 6 points and be placed fourth.

In the women's section, overnight leaders Vietnam continued to lead the field with a 3.5-0.5 win over Singapore to boost their score to 9 points. Behind them are the India A and the India B teams on 7 points each.

The strong India A team consisting comprising Eesha Karvade, Tania Sachdev Soumya Swaminathan and Kruttika Nadig faced little resistance from the inexperienced Lankan team and won 4-0.

India B crushed Indonesia 3.5-0.5, with the only draw coming from WGM Mary Ann Gomes who played against Sukander Irine Karishma on the top board.

Results:

Men's Section

India A (10) bt Iran (7)

P. Harikrishna bt Ehsan Ghaem Maghami

K. Sasikiran drew with Elshan Moradiabadi

S. S. Ganguly bt Mahjoob Morteza

Parimarjan Negi bt Homayoon Toufighi

Bangladesh (4) lost to Vietnam (7)

Ziaur Rahman lost to Le Quang Liem

Niaz Murshed lost to N. N. Troung Son

Md. Abdul Malek lost to Bui Vinh

Mahtabuddin Ahmed lost to Nguyen Anh Dung

Indonesia (6) bt Sri Lanka (3)

Susanto Megaranto bt H. L. M. Hapuarachchi

Anjas Novita bt Dulan Edirisinghe

Kaiser Jenius Hakiki bt R. S. Kalugampitiya

Farid Firman Syah bt Wijesuriya G Luxman

Nepal (1) lost to India B (6)

Rajkishor Mahato lost to B Adhiban

Punya Man Karmacharya lost to S Satyapragyan

Sajan Pandey lost to R R Laxman

Sujendra Prasad Shrestha lost to Deep Sengupta

Singapore (4) bt Yemen (2)

Wu Shaobin bt Abdullah Sonbul

Chua Zheng Yuan Terry bt Fouad Mofleh

Lo Kin Mun Dominic bt Faraj Yahya

Tan Weiliang bt Al-Aqrabi Saleh

Women's Section

Singapore (5) lost to Vietnam (9)

Tay Li Jin Jeslin lost to Le Thanh Tu

Liu Yang lost to Pham Le Thao Nguyen

Chan Wei Yi Victoria drew with Nguyen Thi Thanh An

Neo Xiuwen Christabel lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung

Indonesia (4) lost to India B (7)

Sukander Irine Karisma drew with Mary Ann Gomes

Lestari Baiq Vina lost to Nisha Mohota

Dewi Aa Ci Ra lost to Padmini Rout

Medina Warda Ulia lost to Bhakti Kulkarni

Sri Lanka (3) lost to India B (7)

S. D. Ranasinghe lost to Eesha Karvade

Premanath Dinushki lost to Tania Sachdev

Supeshala Thilakawardana lost to Soumya Swaminathan

U. G. S. S. S. Udupitiya lost to Kruttika Nadig

Nepal (1) lost to Bangladesh (4)

Monalisa Khamboo lost to Nazrana Khan

Namrata Chudal lost to Zakia Sultana

Tara Ghale lost to Begum Masuda

Bishekha Jaiswal lost to Rani Hamid (IANS)