The Indian eves' slumped to their third straight defeat to slip to the joint eighth place in the World Women Team Chess.

Depleted by the absence of Koneru Humpy, the Indians went down 1-3 to Poland in the fifth round to slide down the leaderboard.

D Harika could not taste win while Tania Sachdev's comeback bid did not materialise as the Delhi girl succumbed to her fourth defeat in a row on the second board.

Eesha Karavade played out a quick draw on the third board against Joanna Dworakowska while on the fourth, Kruttika Nadig survived some anxious moments before signing peace.

With four rounds still to come in the 10-team round robin tournament, Poland regained the sole lead by jumping to nine match points out of a possible 10 and they are now trailed by China One and Georgia, both of whom have seven points each.

Ukraine jumped to the fourth spot on six points, a full point clear of China two and Russia that did well to hold China one in the sixth round.

While Armenia is on the seventh spot, the Indian team slipped to joint eighth, along side United States on three points.

Things did not go India's way even though Harika tried hard in a Grunfeld defence game against Iweta.

Playing white, the Hyderabad-based player made a positional error and found herself defending an inferior queen and rook endgame.

Tania's form, meanwhile, continued to desert her. It was a Ruy Lopez Open where the Indian found the going tough against in-form Jolanta.

Eesha played a quick draw with white on the third board while Kruttika played a game of fluctuating fortunes wherein first she stood better, next worse and finally the game was drawn against Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska.

Results (Round 5): China Two (5) beat USA (3) 2.5-1.5; Ukrain (6) beat Vietnam (1) 3.5-0.5; India lost to Poland 1-3; Armenia (4) beat Georgia (7) 2.5-1.5; Russia drew with China One 2-2.