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Second seed India were shocked 1-3 by Morocco,
seed No.74 in the opening round of the 37th Chess Olympiad that started at
Turin in Italy on May 21. However, the women team did not have such
jitters, winning by the perfect 3-0 margin.
Top seed Russia rested world classical champion Vladimir Kramnik and Peter
Svidler (playing in Sofia) and played their full bench. They vanquished
Kazakhstan 4-0 to be among the 35 leaders with full four points. Twelve
rounds remain to be played.
A chance to expose the reserve players early in the event is normal
business for star teams. Ubilava's gamble of resting Krishnan Sasikiran
who had finished a mediocre showing in the Bosna Super Category event did
not work for the Indians.
Top heavy Indian team were blanked in the bottom boards when Chanda and
Singh were defeated. Harikrishna and Ganguly managed draws in the top two
boards. As a result, India had a nightmare defeat against a low ranked
team which had only one grandmaster.
Most of the Indians were atleast 200 Elo higher than their Moroccan
counterparts. With the white pieces Ganguly blundered a central pawn and
offered a draw which Elbilia Jacques accepted.
Such an early defeat will be compensated in a Swiss format event quickly
but the morale of the debutant D.P.Singh and Chanda as well as the coach
will take a beating which will take longer to heal.
In 2004 at Calvia, India did not start too well, winning only by 2.5-1.5
against Uruguay. A defeat in a team event actually also lowers the
tie-break score. India's first defeat last time was to Ukraine (who also
emerged champions), then to Russia, Cuba and Israel. All those four
defeats were by the narrow 1.5-2.5 margin.
Among top players to drop points, Ivanchuk of Ukraine was held to a draw
by Sergey Krylov, a blind player of IBCA. Olympiad first round is more
like the first day in school. Everybody is enthusiastic and it is hard to
figure out the best student from the worst. International Arbiter Geurt
Gijssen of the Netherlands is the chief arbiter.
Top seed Russia, four-time champion China and ninth seed India started
with brisk 3-0 victories to be among the 43 leaders in the women's
section. Twelve rounds remain to be played.
India blanked Brazil 3-0. Humpy and Swati Ghate won with white while
debutant Mary Ann Gomes was rested. Harika played in the second board with
the black pieces and won. It was her first victory in the Olympiad. She
went without a victory at Calvia on debut having drawn all nine games that
she played.
37th Chess Olympiad Live
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Published on 22.05.2006
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