Chess Olympiad: Indian teams miss medals by a whisker

PUNE: Both Indian teams failed to win a medal in the Chess Olympiad that concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday. While the men's campaign ended in an uneventful manner, the women failed to beat USA and settled for the fifth spot. The men's fourth place and women's fifth is India's best ever combined show in the biennial event.
The Indian men's bid to replicate the bronze medal-winning show two years ago went up in smoke when were held 2-2 by Norway.To win the bronze, India had to beat Norway and hope for Russia to lose. Russia beat Italy 3-1.
Indian women were dependent on too many results going their way to clinch the bronze. Though China (20 points) beat Russia (16) to clinch the gold, hoping for both Poland and Ukraine to be held was asking for too much. Both won to take silver and bronze respectively with 17 points each.
The Chinese women won their fifth gold, first after 2004, while Russia failed to win a medal after three successive gold medals this edition.
In the men's section, USA won their first gold after 1976, thanks to the strength of Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. Last edition's medallists China, Hungary and India finished 13th, 15th and fourth respectively.
P Harikrishna, playing white, drew with World champion Magnus Carlsen. It was another Guico Piano, the same opening that led to Hari's win over Sergey Karjakin in the penultimate round on Monday. But Carlsen was more cautious and systematic in negating white's threats to split a point after 47 moves.
B Adhiban drew with Carlsen's second Jon Ludvig Hammer and Vidit Gujrathi won to offset SP Sethuraman's loss. In the women's section, No. 5 seeds India had to beat No. 6 seeds USA to clinch fourth spot with 17 points. But Pune-based Soumya Swaminathan failed to beat Katerina Nemcova on the lowest board despite a promising position.
World No. 5 D Harika failed to lead from the front and could only draw with Irina Krush, a player almost 100 Elo below her. Then, Tania Sachdev won while Padmini Rout lost. Soumya fought for 94 moves and more than five and a half hours but failed to put it across in a highstake complicated endgame of opposite-coloured bishops, rook, and three pawns each.
The Indian men had won their maiden Olympiad medal a bronze in the last edition at Tromso, Norway, in 2014. Though they finished fourth this time, the performance was of far higher standard.
They met USA, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Holland, Hungary, Israel and England this time in the 11round Swiss League. They met five teams among the top eight rivals. Last time, they had met only two teams among the top-15 finishers.