Chess Olympiad: Gold for China in open and women’s sections

Chennai: Asian chess giant China won the gold in both the sections – open and women – in the 43rd World Chess Olympiad at the end the 11th and final round on Friday held at Georgia.
In the open section, third seeded China drew top seeded USA while the second seeded Russia defeated France.
At the end, USA wins silver medal while Russia wins the bronze.
This is the second time China wins the Olympiad gold after it won in 2014 in Norway.
Fifth seeded India was ranked sixth after its draw against Poland.
“Last Olympiad we benefited from the tiebreak system; this time unfortunately, we didn’t. Nevertheless, silver is a good result and I’d like to thank all my team members for their dedicated work. Congrats to China on gold in the Open and Women’s sections,” US top board player Fabiano Caruana tweeted.
In the women’s section, while China clinched gold, Ukraine and Georgia 1 won silver and bronze medals respectively.
The fifth seeded Indian women’s team secured eighth position.
It was a day of mixed results for India with the open team splitting points with Poland while the women’s team defeated Mongolia 3:1.
In the open section, the fifth seeded Indian team drew all the four games.
On the top board, former World Champion V.Anand after a day of rest drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a short game that ended in 25 moves.
Similarly, P.Harikrishna, Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi and B.Adhiban drew their games against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Kacper Piorun and Jackek Tomczak respectively.
In the women’s section, top rated Koneru Humpy was rested against Mongolia and Padmini Rout played on the fourth board.
On the top board Harika Dronavalli drew with Batkhuyag Munguntuul after a marathon 72 moves.
Playing with white pieces Tania Sachdev beat Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel while Eesha Karavade drew with Turmunkh Munkhzul.
On the fourth board Padmini Rout defeated Dulamsuren Yanjindulam in 65 moves.
The 44th World Chess Olympiad will be hosted by Russian city Khanty-Mansiysk in 2020.
Having put together the best ever teams in both men and women section, this was a missed opportunity for both the Indian teams.
Final Standings Open: 1-3: China, USA, Russia (18 points each); 4-5: Poland, England (17 points each); 6-14: India, Vietnam, Armenia, France, Ukraine, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria (16 points each).
Women: 1-2: China, Ukraine (18 points each); 3: Georgia-1 (17 points); 4-12: Russia, Hungary, Armenia, USA, India, Georgia-2, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, France (16 points each). (Agencies)