The second seed Indian men's team was handed a humiliating 1-3 defeat by lower-ranked Morocco in the first round of the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin on Monday.
Grandmasters Pendyala Harikrishna and National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly could manage only a half point each on the top two boards while on the remaining boards GM Sandipan Chanda and International Master-to-be Diwakar Prasad Singh suffered unexpected defeats, thus delting an early blow to the India's medal aspirations.
Surprisingly, top-ranked GM Krishnan Sasikiran was rested in the first round despite the absence of Viswanathan Anand, who is expected to arrive in Turin today but will most probably start playing from the fourth round.
The team hopes the arrival of Anand from Sofia in Bulgaria, where the Indian ace just finished a super category event, will make the difference.
The result appalled the team members and officials alike. In the last Olympiad when the men had finished sixth, the worst result during the course of the tournament was a 1.5-2.5 loss against eventual winners Ukraine, but this time losing to Morocco -- a team which is unlikely to find itself in the top 30 here -- like the way they did, left a lot of ground to be covered in the remaining 12 rounds.
For the record, India was the only seeded team in top 30 that lost in the 146-team competition. Ninth seeds Azerbaijan also suffered a setback, drawing with Mangolia 2-2.
Ganguly was the first to take a draw with Elbilia Jacques, who is rated around 250 points less than the Indian. Playing white, Ganguly did not get much advantage in an age-old Phillidor defense game and signed peace in just 26 moves.
Harikrishna drew a tense game with Hichem Hamdouchi -- the best player and the lone Grandmaster in the Moroccan team, while Chanda and D P Singh gave the opposition a victory to cherish for a long time.
In the first round, as many as 35 teams got of to a flier, scoring 4-0 victories over their respective opponents.
Top seed Russia, eighth ranked Holland and teams like Bangladesh, Singapore, Paraguay and Luxembourg successfully wiped out their respective opposition, third seeded Armenia dropped a full point against Venezuela while defending champion Ukraine and sixth seed Israel lost a half point each against IBCA (International Braille Chess Association) and IPCA (International Physically Disabled Chess Association) to start their campaign in the biggest chess event of the world.
Amongt other higher ranked teams, the United States could only manage a minimal victory over New Zealand, winning by a 2.5-1.5 margin and England dropped a half point against UAE.
Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was surprisingly held to a draw by IBCA top board Sergey Krylov while Yarmonov Igor of IBCA held regarded GM Alexander Huzman of Israel to a draw.
Important results round 1: Russia beat Kazakhstan 4-0; Morocco beat India 3-1; Armenia beat Venezuela 3-1; IBCA lost to Ukraine 0.5-3.5; France beat Bolivia 3.5-0.5 ; IPCA lost to Israel 0.5-3.5; USA beat New Zealand 2.5-1.5; Faroe Islands lost to Netherlands 4-0; Italy A beat Monaco 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan drew with Mongolia 2-2; Kyrgystan lost to Bulgaria 0-4; Spain beat Malaysia 4-0; Syria lost to China 0.5-3.5; England beat UAE 3.5-0.5; South Africa lost to Germany 0-4; Romania beat Nicaragua 4-0; Dominican Republic lost to Hungary 0.5-3.5; Georgia beat ICSC 4-0; Algeria lost to Cuba 1.5-2.5; Belarus beat Wales 2.5-1.5.
Indian board results: 1. Hichem Hamdouchi drew with GM P Harikrishna; 2. Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew with Elbilia Jacques; 3. Karim Ismael beat Sandipan Chanda; 4. D P Singh lost to Arbouche Muhamed.
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