National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly guided the Indian men's team to a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory over Hungary in the fourth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin.
It turned out to be a difficult day for the second seeded Indians after Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi on the first board. But Ganguly's expertise came handy against Robert Ruck. Both Krishnan Sasikiran and Pendyala Harikrishna also drew their games.
At the top of the tables, Russia defeated China by a 3-1 margin to stay in joint lead along with Armenia, who trounced Norway 4-0, both having pocketed 13.5 points
The Netherlands is on sole third spot with 13 points followed by Uzbekistan, on 12.5 points. A pack of four teams including defending champions Ukraine are next in line on 12 points while the Indian men are joint ninth at this stage with 11.5 points in their kitty.
India will be up against China in the next round of this 148-team event in which nine rounds are still to be played.
In the absence of star players like Peter Leko and Judit Polgar, it was a depleted Hungarian team that restricted the Indians to a minimal victory.
Anand played the Sicilian Nazdorf against Zoltan Almasi on the top board and the players followed a recently fashionable variation wherein the Indian ace did not quite get the counter play he was looking for in the English attack employed by his opponent.
On the fourth board Wang Yue drew with Evgeny Bareev.
Important results round 4: China (11.5) lost to Russia (13.5); Uzbekistan (12.5) drew with Ukraine (12); Netherlands (13) beat Greece (11) 3-1; Bulgaria (12) beat Brazil (11) 2.5-1.5; Armenia (13.5) beat Norway (9.5) 4-0; Iceland (11) lost to Spain (12) 1.5-2.5; Germany (10.5) lost to Georgia (11.5) 1.5-2.5; Hungary (10.5) lost to India (11.5) 1.5-2.5; USA (11.5) beat Poland (10) 3-1; Vietnam (11) beat Moldova (10) 2.5-1.5; Croatia (11) beat Egypt (10) 2.5-1.5; Serbia & Montenegro (10) lost to Czech Republic (11) 1.5-2.5; Peru (9) lost to Sweden (12) 0.5-3.5; England (9.5) lost to Turkey (10.5) 1.5-2.5; Indonesia (9) lost to Israel (11) 1-3; Estonia (9) lost to Romania (11) 1-3; Canada (9.5) lost to Switzerland (10.5) 1.5-2.5; Slovenia (10) drew with France (10) 2-2; Colombia (10) drew with Philippines (9.5) 2-2.
Indian board results: Zoltan Almasi drew with Viswanathan Anand; Krishnan Sasikiran drew with Ferenc Berkes; Csaba Balogh drew with P Harikrishna; Surya Shekhar Ganguly beat Robert Ruck.