Indian men cruised to a crushing 3.5-0.5 victory over Canada in the 11th round of 36th Chess Olympiad now underway at Gran Casino in Mallorca.
World Rapid Champion Viswanathan Anand boosted the confidence of a rather struggling Indian team after 10th round loss against Cuba and defeated Pascal Charbonneau quite easily on the top board after Surya Shekhar Ganguly had already given the team an early lead.
On the second board, Krishnan Sasikiran was held to a draw by Mark Bluvshtein but Sandipan Chanda gave India a much needed victory on the fourth board against Yan Teplitsky after a hard fought game.
Meanwhile at the real top, the equations did not change much as Ukraine yet again strengthened its position with a big 3-1 victory over Cuba and took their tally to 32 points out of a possible 44.
Russia remained on the second spot after beating United States 2.5-1.5 and they now trail the leaders by 2.5 points. Armenia kept its third position intact with an easy 2.5-1.5 victory over Switzerland and moved to 29 points while Israel stands sole fourth on 28 after comprehensively beating Azerbaijan 3-1.
Aided by the big victory, India jumped to joint fifth spot on 27.5 along with America and yet again there is a realistic chance to be among medals for them. Just three rounds remain in the biggest chess event.
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