Indian eves finish ninth in Chess Olympiad

Indian eves suffered a disastrous 1-2 loss against 27th seed England and had to be content with 9th spot after the end of the 14th and final round of the women's section of the Chess Olympiad that concluded in Mallorca at Gran Casino.

Having already won the title with one round to spare, the Chinese women completed the formalities of their back-to-back victories in Mallorca after beating Slovakia 2-1 in the final round match.

The Chinese women finished with 31 points out of a possible 42 and finished 3 points ahead of silver medal winners United States that trounced Vietnam 2.5-0.5.

The bronze went to Russia after they could muster 2-1 victory over France and their Bucholz (total score of the teams they played against) tie break proved superior to former champions Georgia. It was a difference of 7 points in tie break that mattered for the last medal at stake as Russian opponents had scored a 346 in all against Georgia's 339.

The Chinese women were yet again in their element in the last round as Zhao Xue led the team's triumph after beating Pokarna Regina on board two. With the victory, Xue proved to be the best performer on board 3 and her individual score surged to a 10/12.

Earlier in the day, World Cup champion Xu Yuhua and Huang Qian did not give any leverage to Eva Repkova and Zuzana Hagarova respectively and had settled for draws. The top Chinese player, former World Champion Xie Jun, was rested on the final day.

Also Read Indian men finish sixth in Chess Olympiad

France finished a creditable 5th despite loosing to United States. In the end, their overall score of 25.5 proved half a point more than Hungary that suffered a 1-2 loss in the last round against Netherlands. Also finishing on 25 points was Slovakia and England and they finished 7th and 8th respectively.

Indian eves were next in line finishing clear ninth. Seeded sixth at the start of the event, a bad finish in the last few rounds brought them to a mediocre finish. The last round especially came as a shocker as Koneru Humpy ran out of steam against Harriet Hunt and lost a keenly contested game. Having played all the games in the Olympiad, the tiredness eventually showed on Humpy's face as Hunt showcased her talent.

The remaining two Indian games ended in draws albeit after intense struggles. On board two, S Vijayalakshmi drew with Jovanka Houska while Richards Heather held Dronavalli Harika to a creditable draw.

Indian results for final round:
Koneru Humpy lost to Harriet Hunt; S Vijayalakshmi drew with Jovanka Houska; Dronavalli Harika drew with Heather Richards.

Final standings with points in bracket:
1. China (31);
2. United States (28);
3-4. Russia, Georgia (27.5 each);
5. France (25.5);
6-8. Hungary, Slovakia, England (25 each);
9-10: India, Poland (24.5 each).

Important results final round:
Slovakia (25) lost to China (31) 1-2; France (25.5) lost to Russia (27.5) 1-2; United States (28) beat Vietnam (23.5) 2.5-0.5; Georgia (27.5) beat Ukraine (23.5) 2.5-0.5; Netherlands (24.5) beat Hungary (25) 2-1; India (24.5) lost to England (25) 1-2; Poland (24.5) beat Romania (23.5) 2-1; Serbia Montenegro (24) drew with Lithuania (24) 1.5-1.5; Bulgaria (24) drew with Sweden (24) 1.5-1.5; Armenia (24.5) beat Azerbaijan (23) 2-1; Germany (24) beat Cuba (23) 2-1; Israel (23) lost to Slovenia (23.5) 1-2; Argentina (22.5) drew with Belarus (23) 1.5-1.5; Italy (21) lost to Moldova (23) 0.5-2.5; Greece (22.5) beat Norway (21.5) 2-1; Estonia (22) drew with Iran (22) 1.5-1.5.