Chinese eves emerged as the superpower of women's chess yet again with another fine victory over India and won the women's Olympiad with one round to spare taking their tally to an unassailable 29 points.
In the 13th and penultimate round of the women's section of 36th Chess Olympiad at Gran Casino in Mallorca, Indian eves crashed to a 0-2 defeat against defending champion China and were thrown out of medal contention.
For India, Koneru Humpy settled for a quick draw on the top board with former world champion Xie Jun while S Vijayalakshmi suffered a defeat at the hands of Zhao Xue.
Dronavalli Harika kept her no-loss record intact after holding Huang Qian.
Gunning for the silver medal are Russia and United States who have 25.5 points each while Georgians are next in line on 25.
A half point adrift are the French women on 24.5 while Hungary is still breathing down their necks on 24 points.
Indian eves are on 22.5 with no chances now.
Seeded sixth to start with, the Indian eves could have done better in the opinion of coach Ruslan Scherbakov from Russia. However the loss against Georgia hit them badly in the 11th round leading to team's downfall.
In the match against China, Humpy drew without much ado against Xie Jun. The Indian mainstay could have done better had Jun gone for some complications with her white pieces but looking at China's position in the event it was quite understandable that they were just looking at winning the gold and not bothered about big margin of victory.
Humpy had employed the Petroff defence as black before signing peace in just 9 moves.
On the second board, Vijayalakshmi suffered a defeat at the hands of Xue after overestimating her chances in the middle game.
Playing the white side of an English opening Vijayalakshmi had some advantage in the middle game but could not quite capitalise on it as Xue made steady progress that led to a queen and minor piece endgame.
The Indian had no chances after her opponent penetrated with queen leaving the white king defenceless.
Harika drew on the last board after surviving some anxious moments. Playing the Kings Indian, Huang Qian held some advantage in the ensuing endgame but thanks to a spirited defence by the Indian, the game was drawn after routine exchanges.
In other important matches of the day, Russia beat Georgia 2-1 while United States was held to draw by France.
Indian results round 13: Xie Jun drew with Koneru Humpy; S Vijayalakshmi lost to Zhao Xue; Huang Qian drew with Dronavalli Harhka.
Important results round 13:
China (29) beat India (23.5) 2-1; Russia (25.5) beat Georgia (25) 2-1; France (24.5) drew with United States (25.5) 1.5-1.5; Hungary (24) beat England (23); Lithuania (22.5) lost to Slovakia (24) 1-2; Ukraine (23) beat Poland (22.5) 2-1; Sweden (22.5) drew with Serbia Montenegro (23.5) 1.5-1.5; Bulgaria (22.5) beat Slovenia (21.5) 2-1; Azerbaijan (22) drew with Germany (22) 1.5-1.5; Moldova (20.5) lost to Armenia (22.5) 0.5-2.5; Vietnam (23) beat Latvia (20) 3-0; Cuba (22) beat Greece (20.5) 2-1; Romania (22.5) beat Spain A (19.5) 3-0; Netherlands (22.5) beat Colombia (19.5) 3-0; Israel (22) beat Czech Republic (20) 2.5-0.5; Iran (20.5) drew with Italy (20.5); Belarus (21.5) beat Uzbekistan (19.5) 2.5-0.5; Australia (20) drew with Norway (20.5) 1.5-1.5.
