Indian men stunned by Morocco, eves thrash Brazil in Chess Olympiad

Turin, May 22 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand's absence and the surprising decision of not fielding K Sasikiran proved fatal as Indian men's team, seeded second in the event, was handed a stunning 1-3 defeat by minnows Morocco in the 37th Chess Olympiad here.

Their female counteraparts, however, started emphatically with a 3-0 thrashing of Brazil.

The fancied Indian men drew two ties and lose as many to go down to Morocco.

Playing with black for India on the top board, former world junior champion P Harikrishna drew with Hamdouchi Hichem of Morocco while national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew his game with Elbilia Jacques.

On the third board, however, Karim Ismael beat Sandipan Chanda and as Diwakar Prasad Singh, playing for the first time for the country, lost to Arbouche Muhamed on the fourth, disbelief and disconsolation sunk in the Indian camp.

India surprisingly did not field GM Sasikiran, who could have been the best choice since Anand is expected toplay only from the third round onwards.

Anand was playing in the Mtel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria where he finished third Indian eves, on the other hand, played superbly in the women's Chess Olympiad and blanked Brazil 3-0 with win on all the three boards.

Playing with the white pieces Grandmaster Koneru Humpy defeated beat women IM Santos Ribeiro Regina Lucia. Women Grandmaster from Andhra Pradesh Harika Dronavalli outwitted Delai Paula Fernanda where as Swati Ghate thrashed Chaves Joara to clinch the issue in India's favour.

Indian eves meet Vietnam in their next outing.

Results (Round 1) Men: Russia beat Kazakhstan 4-0; Morocco beat India 3-1; Armenia beat Venezuela 3-1; France beat Bolivia 3.5-0.5; 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; Women: Russia beat Portugal 3-0; IBCA lost to Ukraine 0.5-2.5; Georgia beat Iceland 3-0; Austria lost to Hungary 0-3; USA beat Bangladesh 3-0; Malaysia lost to China 0-3; Italy A beat South Africa 3-0; Armenia beat Denmark 3-0; Philippines lost to Germany 0.5-2.5; India beat Brazil 3-0; Dominican Republic lost to Bulgaria 0-3; Romania beat El Salvador 3-0; IPCA lost to Poland 0-3; Lithuania beat Albania 3-0; Guatemala lost to Greece 0-3.

UNI XC AY DH DB2032