Indian eves off to a flier

The Indian women's team cruised to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Brazil for an excellent start to their campaign in the Chess Olympiad in Turin.

The win gave them just the perfect start they were hoping for and they will meet Vietnam now in the next round.

Amongst the 101 teams participating, as many as 43 teams scored a thumping 3-0 wins, giving an indication of the difference in strengths between the sides.

- Indian men shocked in Chess Olympiad opener

Top seed Russia, third seed Georgia and defending champion China were amongst those teams who coasted to a perfect 3-0 score while it was a mild shock for the Ukrainian eves as they lost a half point en route to a 2.5-0.5 victory against the International Braille Chess Association team.

Unlike in the men's event, there were not too many shocking incidents and it was an expected sail for the higher ranked teams in the opener of the 13-round event.

The event is being played under FIDE's Swiss rules and three out of four team members of each team can play in every round, making it a 39 games event for each country.

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy led the team from the front against Brazil picking up an easy victory over Women International Master Lucia Santos Ribeiro Regina of Brazil on the top board for her ninth seed team. Humpy's victory came in quick time.

Women Grandmaster D Harika, who has been given the second board here ahead of National women's champion Swati Ghate, also came up with some inspirational stuff to get the better of

Delai Paula Fernanda, while on the third board Ghate did the trick against Joara Chaves to give the team an excellent start.

The Russian women too started their campaign with a big bang, beating Portugal.

On the top board, Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk accounted for Leite Catarina while on the second and third boards Kosintseva sisters Tatiana and Nadezhda defeated Coimbra Margarida and Ariana Pintor respectively.

Important results round 1: 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; France beat ICSC 3-0; Indonesia lost to Slovakia 1-2; Slovenia beat Wales 3-0; Italy B lost to Netherlands 0-3; Serbia & Montenegro lost to Venezuela 1-2.

Indian board results round 1: Koneru Humpy beat Santos Ribeiro Regina Lucia; 2. Delai Paula Fernanda lost to D Harika; 3. Swati Ghate beat Chaves Joara.