SAMARKAND, SEP 27 (PTI): The Indian men played out a draw with Hungary and settled for the silver medal on a tie-break, while the women drew with Georgia to bring home the bronze in the 46th Chess Olympiad that concluded here on Sunday.
The Uzbekistan team regained the gold medal in the open section after winning the final round game against Ukraine by a 2,5-1.5 points. The Uzbeks ended with 20 points out of a possible 22, winning as many as 10 rounds and losing a lone match against Germany.
The Indian men ended up with 18 points and were tied for the second spot with Germany that defeated Holland. However, thanks to a better tie-break score, the Indian team ended with silver while Germany had to be content with the bronze.
In the women’s section, China annexed the gold with another fine performance against Vietnam, winning by a 3-1 margin. The Chinese team also ended with 20 points in all, a couple of points more than second-placed Kazakhstan.
The Indian team was yet against rescued by B Savitha Shri who has clearly been the best performer among the Indian women. Ending up with nine points out of her 10 games, Savitha Shri was clearly the reason why the Indian women could win the bronze.
As it happened in the match, Humpy scored a quick victory over Nana Dzagnidze but Divya Deshmukh lost against Bella Khotenashvili on fourth board.
After Vantika Agrawal was also held to a draw on the third board, much was left to Savitha Shri to survive a very difficult position where her king was under constant scrutiny. Savitha eventually fought move for move to force the draw.
In addition to the team bronze, Savitha also won the individual gold medal for her performance. Humpy and Vantika won the bronze while Divya Deshmukh got silver medal for her performance.
Among the Indian men, Praggnanandhaa won the bronze for his performance but following a last round debacle, Gukesh narrowly missed out on gold.
