MAMALLAPURAM: Unvanquished - that's how we know Ukraine these days. At a time when the country is fighting a battle against the Russian armies, their women's team in the Olympiad gave the nation something to cheer about.
The Ukraine girls didn't lose a single match and at the end of the 11 rounds of pitched battle, they clinched the gold. GM Anna Ushenina spoke about her struggles in the lead-up to the event after the gold medal winning show. "I had to move away from my home city due to Russian attacks. It's been difficult," she said.
Ushenina knows life won't change after this triumph, but they will take the little bit of happiness that has come their way. "It won't change anything in the war, unfortunately. I don't know what to say. Majority of us want peace," Ushenina said.
Ukraine had to survive a close fight in the tournament with the top three seeds finishing on the podium. The No. 2 seeds drew with four teams - Azerbaijan, Romania, India and Georgia. But seven wins proved enough for them to pip India and Gerogia.
It was Ukraine's first women's team gold since Turin 2006. They had won the silver in the last Olympiad in 2018 as the 2020 edition was not held due to the pandemic. Now, they have won 7 team medals in the last 8 women's Olympiads (two gold, two silver and three bronze). They were the only women's team in the tournament having three GMs: Ushenina and the Muzhychuk sisters (Mariya and Anna) and lost only five of 44 games. Ushenina was on the reserve board in the champion team of 2006 too.
Former champions Armenia won the Open silver after missing out on a medal last time. The Georgian women's team (silver) won their second successive medal after the bronze in 2018.
In the open section, Uzbekistan failed to beat three teams - India 1, India 2 and USA. But they didn't lose any of their 11 matches either. That helped the 14th seeds walk away with the gold medal.
Draw remains a powerful tool in chess, especially in Swiss League team competitions without playing tiebreak, to remain ahead of more enterprising teams. It was the first-ever gold medal for the Uzbek men who lost only three of 44 games.
