CHESS: INDIA HAS A DISAPPOINTING FINISH
Chennai online, India
June 5 2006
Turin (Italy), June 5: India had a disappointing finish at the 37th
Chess Olympiad here with the women’s team bagging the 12th spot and
the men managing to get the 30th place after the concluding round of
the meet.
Indian men yet again failed to make the most of the situation and
managed a minimal 2.5-1.5 victory over Italy ‘B’ in the 13th and
final round.
Armenia attested their supremacy in the event with a quick draw on
all four boards against Hungary and won the gold medal with a huge
score of 36 points out of a possible 52.
The silver medal went to China who came with yet another fine
performance in the final round game to beat Holland by a 2.5-1.5
margin. The Chinese men finished with 34 points.
In an amazing turn of events, pre-Olympiad favourite and top seed
Russia were thrown out of medal contention after they lost their
final round game against Israel by a 1-3 margin.
It paved the way for United States men that beat Norway 3.5-0.5 to
join Israel in the third spot on 33 points and after the tie-break
was resolved US got the bronze.
Behind Israel, Hungary finished fifth overall on 32.5 points while
Russia ended sixth.
Indian men who had been given the second billing here behind Russia
finished 30th on 29.5 points after the final list was announced.
In women’s section, Ukraine won the gold after taking a draw with
Armenian eves. Ukraine ended with 29.5 points out of a possible 39
and won the gold with a 1.5 point lead over Russia, who defeated
Indian eves in the final round 2-1.
Indian eves, seeded ninth, had a better finish than their male
counterparts and tallied 23 points to finish 12th.
The Chinese women, the defending champions, had to be content with
the bronze this time. In the final round, China drew with Belarus
and ended on 27.5 points overall.
For Indian men, the final round also did not bring any good news
as national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly was outdone on the third
board by unknown Sabino Brunello of the Italy ‘B’ team.
In fact, the Indian opposition did not have a single International
Master against four Indian Grandmasters and it was again a tragedy
of errors that failed to propel the team to a better finish.
Viswanathan Anand was expectedly rested and Krishnan Sasikiran won
his game against Niccolo Ronchetti after former World Junior Champion
P Harikrishna gave the team an early lead defeating Daniele Vocaturo.
However, Ganguly’s loss combined with a draw by Sandipan Chanda
against Denis Rombaldoni on the fourth board could yield only a
minimal victory.
The Indian women looked better placed to hold Russia with Grandmaster
Koneru Humpy settling for an early draw with Russian top player
Alexandra Kosteniuk. On the second board, Dronavalli Harika also
did well to get a half point against Natalia Kosintseva but on the
third Swati Ghate fumbled from a promising position against Nadezhda
Kosintseva — giving the Russians a 2-1 victory.