The Indian team met another nemesis in China and went down 1.5-2.5 to miss out on a medal and sign off fourth in the World Women's Team Chess Championship. What looked like a certain medal after the first half of the championship,was blown away in the last two matches as,following a loss to Georgia,China also proved a tough nut to crack for the Indians. China won the gold medal with 16 points while the silver was claimed by the Russians who finished with 13 points in all. Georgia ended with the bronze while India and Ukraine were tied for the fourth spot with much better tie-break for the Indians. For the Indians,Koneru Humpy played out a draw on the top board against world champion Yifan Hou while D Harika also did not disappoint on the second in splitting the points with Ju Wenjun. The main risk was on board four wherein Padmini Rout held on to her own and also drew with Tan Zhongyi but Tania Sachdev missed her drawing chances against Zhao Xue in a very tense game to eventually lose. In other matches of the day,Russia took a quick 2-2 draw with Armenia as they did not have any chance to catch up with China. This proved a just strategy for the team as they secured the silver without much ado. The Georgians beat Turkey 3-1 after receiving a jolt on the second board wherein Bela Khotenashvili was beaten by Kubra Ozturk. Greece scored a 4-0 victory over South Africa.while Vietnam and Ukraine played out draws on all four boards. In the last round,Humpy did not let Yifan do much and got an easy draw as black with exchanges at regular intervals while Harika was her solid self yet again. Padmini Rout also did her bit by holding Zhongyi and all the attention was diverted to Tania's game against Zhao Xue,whol ost under time crunch.
