1st round stumble for men

Second seed Indian men were shocked by much lower ranked Morocco as they were handed a humiliating 1-3 defeat in the first round itself at the 37th Chess Olympiad here.

Second seed Indian men were shocked by much lower ranked Morocco as they were handed a humiliating 1-3 defeat in the first round itself at the 37th Chess Olympiad here.

In the highly regarded team, grandmasters P Harikrishna and national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly could manage only a half point each on top two boards while on the remaining boards GM Sandipan Chanda and international master-to-be Diwakar Prasad Singh suffered unexpected defeats delting an early blow to the India8217;s medal aspirations.

Surprisingly, top ranked player GM Krishnan Sasikiran was rested in the first round despite the absence of Viswanathan Anand, who is expected to arrive in Turin today but most probably start playing from the fourth round.

The result appalled the team members and officials alike. For the records, India was the only seeded team in top 30 that lost in the 146-team competition.

Ganguly was the first to take a draw with Elbilia Jacques who is rated around 250 points less than the Indian.

Harikrishna drew a tense game with Hichem Hamdouchi 8212; the best player and the lone grandmaster in the Moroccan team, while Chanda and D P Singh gave the opposition a victory to cherish for a long time.

Women off to A flier

Turin: Indian eves cruised to an emphatic 3-0 victory against Brazil for an excellent start to their campaign in the Chess Olympiad here.

Story continues below this ad

The win gave them just the perfect start they were hoping for and they will meet Vietnam now in the next round. Amongst the 101 teams participating here, as many as 43 teams scored a thumping 3-0 win giving an indication of the difference of strength between the sides.

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy led the team from the front against Brazil picking up an easy victory over women international master Lucia Santos Ribeiro Regina.

Women grandmaster D Harika who has been given the second board here ahead of national women8217;s champion Swati Ghate also came up with some inspirational stuff to get the better of Delai Paula Fernanda while on the third board Ghate did the trick againt Joara Chaves. PTI