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Russia Wrest Title From India One
Gold, Two Silver For India
By Arvind Aaron
Top seed Russia pipped defending champions India by
winning the gold medal in the World Youth (Under-16)
Chess Olympiad that concluded at Turkey on October 2,
2009.
India won the silver medal for the team event. In the
board prizes, Debashis Das of Cuttack won the gold medal
for best performance in the second board while
Deepathamsh Reddy of Hyderabad took the silver for
second best performance in the reserve board.
Russia beat South Africa 4-0 to reach 30 points and win
the title by a good two point margin. Second seed India
finished second beating Turkish Girls 4-0 for the second
place. In the third place was Armenia who also blanked
Turkey Red 4-0.
Indian score of 28 points came from: (in board order) K.
Priyadarshan (Madurai, 6.5/10), Debashis Das (Cuttack,
7.5/9), Aditya Udeshi (Mumbai, 4.5/8), Girish Koushik (Mysore,
5/7), Deepthamsh Reddy (Hyderabad, 4.5/6).
India won against Sri Lanka, England 4-0, beat Georgia
3-1, beat Turkey-T 2.5-1.5, lost to Russia 1-3, beat
Uzbekistan 3-1, beat Azerbaijan, Hungary 2.5-1.5, lost
to Armenia 1.5-2.5, beat Turkey-G 4-0.
India was in lead for most of the tournament. Russians
caught up in round eight and our defeat in round nine
made things easier for the Russians who swung into a
2-point lead. India started well, Russia finished well.
Our 1-3 defeat to Russia made the difference between the
teams in the end.
India had won the 2007 edition at Singapore and 2008
edition at Turkey and were looking for a hat-trick.
Russia dashed our hopes by fielding a strong team and
also by playing well.
Final placings: 1 Russia 30/40; 2 India 28; 3 Armenia
27; 4 Georgia 25.5; 5 Turkey-T 24; 6-7. Uzbekistan,
South Africa-B 23 each; 8-10 Hungary, Azerbaijan,
Turkey-G 22.5...22 teams.
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