Chess: India's meek draw still bags gold

China's second place was assured with a 2-1 team victory over ninth ranked Bangladesh, while IR Iran's crushing 3-0 victory over Qatar gave them third place. Kazakhstan, the team that drew against India, took fourth place.

Qatar, bronze or silver medal hopefuls after yesterday's wins had to content themselves with fifth place after a disastrous day against IR Iran, who beat the hosts 0-3.

Humpy Koneru earned her second chess gold of Doha 2006 and was delighted with her performance, "I played the best chess in the 15th Asian Games. Today, I had a comfortable win. Dana [Aketayeva] was well prepared for the opening, but I managed it in the end.

"I had the chance of getting two golds, one in the women's rapid chess and one in the team event, and I did it. I won all my games in this tournament except for the one against Chen Zhu [Qatar], because she was better prepared."

Bu Xiangzhi told reporters how they worked hard to secure silver, "My opponent offered a draw, but my team captain asked me to play on, as he felt that we should win and not risk just scoring a tie. I was sure I could not lose, because I had a fine position. So I played on. In the end we were sure we were second in the final standings. It was only then that I went for his peace offer."

IR Iran, was perhaps the surprise performer of the match, surpassing even giant killers Kazakhstan. Team coach, Nigel Short, earlier told reporters, "I think they'll do fine. We're not taking prisoners today. If they romp home to a 2.5-0.5 victory against Qatar, the fruit juice is on me tonight."

After the success, Short was even happier, "I am absolutely delighted. I never thought they could score 3-0. I thought that maybe, on a good day, they could win with 2.5-0.5. I mean, on a very good day. But this is really brilliant."

Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of IR Iran was happy with their result, "It was a very good day for Iran. We scored a 3-0 victory and won the bronze medal. We forced ourselves to play intelligent chess and got a brilliant result against a good team. We were lucky to get all three points we needed. We had expected a 2-1 win at best."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006