Superb show by Indians at Chess Olympiad

Simply superb was the performance of the Indian team in the 34th edition of the Chess Olympiad which concluded in Istanbul on Monday.

For the record, four very important feats were achieved. The only woman Grandmaster of the country S Vijayalakshmi's quest for laurels continued when she won the silver medal on board one. Vijayalakshmi also became the first woman from India to get the men's IM title.

Teenaged maestro IM Pendalya Harikrishna made his maiden Grandmaster norm and the men's team bettered its all-time best performance of 10th position, by finishing 8th.

The top results were on expected lines and favourites Russia won the gold medal in the men's section while China brushed aside all rivals in the women's event.

Germany was the only team that gave a semblance of resistance to the Russian dominance but in the end they had to be content with the silver medal.

The bronze was won by the Ukraine.

In the women's section Georgia finished with the silver while the bronze went to Russia.

The sky seems to be the limit for Vijayalakshmi. After Anand, she can easily be called the pillar of Indian chess. A stupendous 11/14 score on board one enabled her to add to her long list of laurels. Her biggest victory came over Nana Ioseliani of Georgia in the second round. She made her final IM norm in the process and now is in sight of the GM norms.

'Viji', as she is fondly called, now awaits the World Championship, which kicks off in New Delhi on November 26.

Harikrishna made a ten-game norm. Consistency was his forte throughout. He remained undefeated on board three and scalped GM Zagerbelny of Uzbekistan. In his final score of 6.5/11, he conceded 9 draws against a strong opposition.

Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran and Abhijit Kunte handled the top two boards to near perfection. Sasikiran tallied 7/12 while Abhijit finished with an excellent 8.5/12. Apart from an unexpected blunder against GM Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria, Kunte remained undefeated.

GM Dibyendu Barua lost his last two games with white pieces and that came as a jolt to the team. Barua scored 6.5 points from his quota of 12 games. Captain D V Prasad and Surya Shekher Ganguly did not get any chances towards the end as the think tank decided to field in-form players. Prasad scored 3/5 while Ganguly had to remain satisfied with 1.5/4.

Minakshi provided ample support to her sister Vijayalakashmi with a 7/12 score. Saheli Barua finished on 5/11 and Pallavi Shah could add only one point to the team's score from her 5 games. The team finished a respectable 13 on 24 points.

Final standings:

Men: 1.Russia-38; 2. Germany 37; 3-4. Ukraine, Hungary 35.5; 5. Israel 34.5; 6. Georgia 34; 7-13. England, India, China, Switzerland, Uzbekistan, Slovenia, Macedonia.

Women: 1.China 32; 2. Georgia 31; 3. Russia 28.5; 4. Ukraine 27; 5. Yugoslavia 26; 6. Netherlands 25.5; 7-9. Hungary, Germany, England 25; 10-11. Armenia, Romania 24.5; 12-14. Moldova, India, Poland 24.