World number two Viswanathan Anand crashed to a shocking defeat as the Indian men suffered another humiliating defeat to a lowly ranked Canada by a 1.5-2.5 margin in the 12th and penultimate round of the 37th edition of the Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy on Saturday.
The Indian eves could fair no better against top placed Ukraine and despite giving a tough fight they were also outdone by a resolute team and the end result read 2.5-0.5 in Ukraine's favour with Swati Ghate yet again proving to be the only saving grace.
Meanwhile at the top of the tables in open section, Armenia maintained its huge 3.5 points lead over nearest rivals China with a clinical 2-2 draw with France without much ado.
While all Armenian players settled for peace pretty quickly, the Chinese men had to work hard for a 3-1 victory over Czech republic and now they are firmly in second place on 31.5 points, a half point adrift of nearest rival Russia.
The Russian men also did well to beat Cuba by a 3-1 margin and even as Armenia is now confirmed for the gold medal, the fight for the silver is still on between Russia and China.
Much would depend on whom they play in the next round.
In the women's section the Ukrainian women almost made sure of the gold with another fine performance against the Indian eves.
With 28 points in their bag now, Ukraine has a huge 2 points lead over nearest rival Russia that drew its penultimate round game with France.
The Indian teams' theoretical chances of a medal evaporated completely after the penultimate round in both the sections.
In the men's section, only former World Junior champion P Harikrishna won for India while Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Anand lost and Krishnan Sasikiran was held to a draw on the second board.
Amongst the Indian eves, Koneru Humpy lost her second game of the event going down to in-form Natalia Zhukova on the top board while D Harika also could not quite match the talent of Kateryna Lahno on the second board.
Swati Ghate came up with a draw on the third board to avoid a complete whitewash.
Important results round 12 open: France (30.5) drew with Armenia (35) 2-2; Czech Republic (28.5) lost to China (31.5) 1-3; Russia (31) beat Cuba (28.5) 3-1; Israel (20) beat USA (29.5) 2.5-1.5; Ukraine (29) lost to Netherlands (29.5) 1.5-2.5; Germany (28.5) lost to Norway (29) 1.5-2.5; Greece (28.5) drew with Uzbekistan (28.5) 2-2; Slovenia (27.5) lost to Bulgaria (29.5) 1-3; Hungary (30.5) beat Iceland (26) 4-0; Poland (29) beat Slovakia (27) 3-1; Canada (28) beat India (27) 2.5-1.5; England (28) beat Iran (27) 2.5-1.5; Azerbaijan (28.5) beat Vietnam(26.5) 3-1.
Important result women: Ukraine (28) beat India (22) 2.5-0.5; Russia (26) drew with France (21.5) 1.5-1.5; USA (23) drew with China (25) 1.5-1.5; Armenia (22.5) beat Georgia (22) 2-1; Netherlands (21.5) drew with Hungary (22) 1.5-1.5; Belarus (22) beat Bulgaria (21) 2-1; Romania (21) lost to Poland (22) 1-2; Greece (22) beat Latvia (20) 2.5-0.5.
