Indian men finished sixth after beating Bulgaria 2.5-1.5 in the 14th and final round of the 36th Chess Olympiad, which concluded in Mallorca on Saturday.
With Abhijit Kunte scoring the last victory at the Gran Casino in Mallorca against Ivan Cheparinov, Indians wrapped the issue against Bulgaria with other three boards ending in draws.
Ukraine became the worthy winners of the top chess event after they trounced France 3-1 in the final round game and took their overall tally to a very impressive 39.5 that eventually proved three points more than Russia and Armenia.
Russian men won the silver medal on account of better points scored by their opponents - 460 compared to 459 scored by the Armenian challengers in the marathon event. With this victory, Ukraine put a break on Russia's six-times winning streak.
The Champion team led from day one and was the only team in the Olympiad not to lose a single match.
The fourth place went to United States after a stupendous 3.5-0.5 victory over Cuba in the final round that helped them move to 35 points, half a point clear of Israel that finished fifth after drawing with Cuba.
Starting as the fifth seeds, Indian men eventually finished sixth that can by no means be called a bad finish given the kind of oppositions they faced. For the records, excluding themselves, the Indians played with remaining nine teams finishing in the top ten.
Also this was the best Indian performance ever as the team bettered its previous best of finishing eighth at Istanbul in the year 2000.
As things turned out in the last round game, World Rapid Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a quick draw by former World Junior Champion Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria who played black.
This was the second time in the Olympiad that Anand failed to utilise his white pieces effectively. Earlier in the 7th round encounter against Ukraine too, the Indian had drawn with white while in the remaining white games Anand had scored fine victories.
Playing against Georgiev, Anand was up against the Berlin defence and, as it transpired, could not get much after the opening. In the queen less middle game typical of the system, Anand allowed Georgiev to maintain the balance and settled for a draw in just 17 moves.
The victory for India came on board three when Abhijit Kunte proved that he was capable of delivering goods with white too. Having played all blacks so far, the former British Champion crushed Ivan Cheparinov from a Slav defence game with a finely crafted attack.
The Indian romped home in just 33 moves.
On the other two boards the Indians had easy draws with Krishnan Sasikiran not letting Alexander Delchev nurture his advantage a great deal while Sandipan Chanda had it easy against Vasil Spassov.
Indian results for final round:
Viswanathan Anand v/s Kiril Georgiev; Alexander Delchev v/s Krishnan Sasikiran; Abhijit Kunte v/s Ivan Cheparinov; Vasil Spassov v/s Sandipan Chanda.
Final standings with points in bracket:
1. Ukraine (39.5);
2-3: Russia, Armenia (36.5 each);
4. United States (35);
5. Israel (34.5);
6. India (34);
7. Cuba (33.5);
8. Netherlands (33);
9-10. Bulgaria, Spain A (32.5 each).
Important results final round:
France (31.5) lost to Ukraine (39.5) 1-3; Russia (36.5) beat China (31.5) 3-1; Armenia (36.5) beat Georgia (31.5) 3.5-0.5; Israel (34.5) drew with Cuba (33.5) 2-2; India (34) beat Bulgaria (32.5) 2.5-1.5; United States (35) beat Norway (30.5) 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan (31.5) lost to Greece (32.5) 1.5-2. 5; Poland (32) drew with Germany (32); Czech Republic (31) lost to Netherlands (33) 1-3; Switzerland (32) drew with Uzbekistan (32) 2-2; Lithuania (31.5) drew with Bosnia Herzegovina (31.5) 2-2; Argentina (31) lost to Belarus (32) 1.5-2.5; Philippines (32) beat Hungary (31) 2.5-1.5; Romania (32) beat Moldova (30.5) 2.5-1.5; Slovakia (30.5) lost to Kazakhstan (31.5) 1.5-2.5; Spain A (32.5) beat Finland (29.5) 3.5-0.5; Croatia (29.5) lost to Slovenia (32) 1-3.
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