Fourth place finish at Chess Olympiad was impressive

MUMBAI: Fourth place finish for a team seeded 11th at the start of the tournament is a superb performance by any stretch of imagination. However, considering the fact that India had won a bronze medal in Norway two years ago, the players themselves would be a tad disappointed as the 42nd Chess Olympiad concluded in Bakur, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday.

India ended fourth in Open Section and fifth in the Women’s Section on Tuesday after playing out identical 2-2 draws against Norway and the United States, respectively.

Pentala Harikrishna held reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen to a draw on top board in the 11th round game against Norway in the Open Section before Vidit Gujrathi raised hopes of victory by beating Aryan Tari on the third board. However, SP Sethuraman went for an untimely attack and lost to Frode Urkedal, a player rated 100 points lower than him, as the match ended in a stalemate.

When the final round started, India still harboured hopes of winning a medal. For that to happen, they had to beat Norway and hope Russia lose to Italy. However, both did not happen – while India could manage only a draw, Russia thrashed Italy 3-1. Thus, overnight joint leaders United States won the gold medal after a tie with Ukraine for the top spot, edging ahead on tiebreak. Russia, by virtue of their last-round win, claimed bronze medal.

In the women’s section, India started as the fifth ranked team and finished fifth. In the final round match against USA,

Dronavalli Harika played a draw with Irina Krush with black pieces while Padmini Rout lost to Nazi Paikidze. Tania Sachdev salvaged the day for India by overcoming Anna Zatonskih with black pieces as India finished behind China, Poland Ukraine and Russia.

Though overall, the standard of play put up by India was good and augurs well for the future, the players would leave Baku asking themselves, “what if, some results had gone our way?”.

What if, SP Sethuraman had managed to convert a winning position against Samuel Shankland of USA in the 7th round? Sethu blundered and lost and India were outplayed 3.5-0.5 by the higher rated Americans.

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) would be asking itself, what if they had the services of top players like Viswanathan Anand, K Sasikiran and Surya Sekhar Ganguly, rated higher than some of the players in the team.

India was leading the table at the end of the sixth round but the heavy defeat against the Americans put paid to their chances. They recovered by beating England, but a narrow defeat against Ukraine further diminished their chances.