Putting aside the disappointment of missing a chance to have a go at the gold medal, India 2 climbed the podium with a resounding 3-1 victory over Germany in the 11th and final round of the Chess Olympiad on Tuesday.
With Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani striking with white and D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa gaining a draw with black, India 2 emerged as the only team on 18 points, one behind champion Uzbekistan and runner-up Armenia.
The young combination of Uzbekistan defeated Netherlands 2.5-1.5 while joint-overnight leader Armenia scored an identical victory over Spain.
For India, this was the second medal in the Open section of the Olympiad, to go with the one from the 2014 edition.
India 1 also came up with a fine performance to hold top seed USA 2-2. But this result left the teams on 17 points and away from the podium. India 1 finished fourth and USA, fifth. India 3, seeded 16, drew with Kazakhstan to finish a distant 31st.
Reward for brilliance
Individual gold medals for D. Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, silver to Arjun Erigiasi and bronze to R. Praggnanandhaa underlined the phenomenal display of this teen-quartet in the premier competition.
Important results (11th round, with match-points):
Open:Germany (15) lost to India 2 (18) 1-3 (Vincent Keymer drew with D. Gukesh; Matthias Bluebaum lost to Nihal Sarin; Rasmus Svane drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu lost to Raunak Sadhwani).
India 1 (17) drew with USA (17) 2-2 (P. Harikrishna drew with Caruana Fabiano; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Wesley So; Arjun Erigaisi bt Leinier Dominguez Perez; S.L. Narayanan lost to Sam Shankland).
Kazakhstan (15) drew with India 3 (14) 2-2 (Rinat Jumabayev bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly; Alisher Sulemenov drew with S.P. Sethuraman; Arystanbek Urzayev lost to M. Karthikeyan; Kazybek Norgerbek drew with Abhimanyu Puranik).
Armenia (19) bt Spain (15) 2.5-1.5; Uzbekistan (19) bt Netherlands (15) 2.5-1.5; Moldova (17) bt England (15) 2.5-1.5; Azerbaijan (16) bt Serbia (15) 2.5-1.5.
The standings: 1-2. Uzbekistan, Armenia; 3. India 2; 4-6. India 1, USA and Moldova; 31. India 3.
Individual prizes: Board 1: 1. D. Gukesh (Ind 2), 2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb), Magnus Carlsen (Nor).
Board 2: 1. Nihal Sarin (Ind 2), 2. Nikolaos Theodorou (Gre), 3. Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb);
Board 3: 1. David Howell (Eng), 2. Arjun Erigaisi (Ind 1), 3. R. Praggnanandhaa (Ind 2).
Board 4: 1. Jakhongir Vakhidov (Uzb), 2. Paulius Pultinevicius (Ltu), 3. Jaime Santos Latasa (Esp).
Reserve: 1. Mateusz Bartel (Pol), 2. Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm), 3. Volodymyr Onyshchuk (Ukr).
