Indians off to a winning start at Chess Olympiad

India started their campaign in the 25th Chess Olympiad on a winning note, with the men's team demolishing Wales 3.5 - 0.5 and women beating Turkey 2.5 - 0.5 in the inaugural rounds at Bled, Slovenia.

The Indian men's team had a smooth outing on the three boards except on that of Grandmaster Pentyala Harikrishna as Williams held him to a draw on the top board.

The Indians without GM Krishnan Sasikiran and double GM-norm holder Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who were rested, dismissed their opposition's challenge with GM Abhijit Kunte winning the second board quite comprehensively.

On the third board, International Master R B Ramesh followed suit and though GM Pravin Thipsay took some time to get his rhythm going, in the end he too proved too much for his rookie opponent in the final game.

In the Women's section Subbaraman Meenakshi drew her first round game while her elder sister S Vijayalakshmi and Aarthie Ramaswamy had it easy against their Turkish opponents.