The Indian men's team won the silver medal in the tiebreaker after playing a draw with Hungary in the final round of the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sunday. The women's team won the bronze medal after a tie with Georgia. All India Chess Federation President Nitin Narang encouraged the team. He said that the Indian teams played with full courage and enthusiasm. Carried forward the hopes of 140 crore countrymen.
Uzbekistan won the gold medal in the open category by winning the final round match against Ukraine by 2.5-1.5. Uzbekistan scored 20 points out of a possible 22. The team won 10 matches and lost only one match against Germany.
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India got silver medal due to better tiebreaker
The Indian men's team collected 18 points and finished joint second with Germany, which defeated the Netherlands. However, due to better tiebreaker score, India got the silver medal while Germany had to settle for bronze.
China won gold medal in women's category
In the women's category, China won the gold medal by registering a spectacular 3-1 victory against Vietnam. China also collected a total of 20 points, while second-placed Kazakhstan had two points less.
B Savita took over the Indian women's team
The Indian women's team was once again captained by B Savita Sri, who was clearly the best performer among the Indian players. Savita scored nine points in her 10 matches. Thanks to his performance the Indian team managed to win the bronze medal.
Under pressure, Savita was successful in achieving a draw.
In the match against Georgia, Humpy registered an easy win against Nana Dzagnidze but on the fourth board, Divya Deshmukh had to face defeat at the hands of Bela Khotenashvili.
After drawing against Vantika Agarwal on the third board, a lot of responsibility fell on Savita Shree. They faced an extremely difficult situation in which their king was under constant pressure. However, Savita fought till the end and answered every move and was successful in getting a draw.
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D Gukesh missed the gold medal
Apart from the team bronze, Savita also won an individual gold medal for her performance. Humpy and Vantika Agarwal won individual bronze medals while Divya Deshmukh got silver. Among the Indian men, R Praggnananda won the bronze medal for his performance while D Gukesh missed the gold medal by a narrow margin due to a disappointing performance in the final round.
Our teams fought with courage: Nitin Narang
All India Chess Federation President Nitin Narang said on the team's performance, 'The tricolor is flying once again on the podium of the FIDE Chess Olympiad! Our Open and Women's teams competed with courage, played with confidence and carried forward the hopes of 140 crore Indians on every board. Today they are returning home from the Olympiad with silver (open team) and bronze (women's team) medals.
He further wrote, 'We came to Samarkand as defending champions. We came to win gold. This time it could not happen. We are proud of our players, coaches and the entire team. Now if you get anything less than gold, it feels as if the work is incomplete; This shows how much progress Indian chess has made.