China beat Ukraine 3-1 today to become the sole leader in Group A of the World Team Chess Championship.

Havana, November 21 (RHC)-- China beat Ukraine 3-1 today to become the sole leader in Group A of the World Team Chess Championship.

Victories by Jinshi Bai and Di Li on boards three and four, added to draws in the other two duels of the match, propelled the Asian team to victory.

Grandmaster Jinshi (2498) beat his Ukrainian counterpart Andrei Volotkin (2659) with white, while Di (2441) beat Igor Kovalenko (2620) with black. Thus, China appears in the first position of district A with a perfect record of three wins in three games (six points), followed precisely by the Ukrainian team 2-1 (four points).

Spain and France are in third place with three points.

Spain and France tied in Monday's match and shared the points.

Likewise, the Netherlands swept South Africa and earned their first two points - as a country - in the world championship.

In Group B, meanwhile, Azerbaijan, India and Uzbekistan are tied for first place, followed by Israel, Poland and the United States.

On Monday, Uzbekistan overcame the United States and India did the same with Azerbaijan, in both cases by 2.5-1.5, while Poland and Israel drew their four-game match