China beat Russia for 5th straight win at World Women's Chess Team Championship

ASTANA, March 10 (Xinhua) -- CHINA beat Russia 2.5-1.5 here on Saturday for their fifth straight victory at the World Women's Chess Team Championship.

With the well-earned victory in the clash between two previously unbeaten teams, the Chinese women led the standings with 10 points from five wins against no loss.

"It is an important win for us," said CHINA coach Yu Shaoteng. "We are in a good position after winning five matches in a row, but we have to be patient and cautious in the rest of the tournament and take one team at a time."

Former world champion Tan Zhongyi beat Kateryna Lagno to give CHINA the lead before Lei Tingjie made it 2-0 by downing Valentina Gunina. Then Huang Qian earned 0.5 points against former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk to seal the victory for CHINA. In the last match, Ding Yixin lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina.

Russia slipped to the second place on eight points after suffering their first defeat in the 10-team round robin tournament while Ukraine were at the third with seven points.

In the men's section, CHINA beat Iran 2.5-1.5 for their second victory in five matches. Russia overcame Kazakhstan 3-1 to keep their lead on the standings with nine points from four wins and a draw.

All the teams will have one day off on Sunday with the competitions of the sixth round resuming on Monday.