Turin: Second seed Indian men suffered a humiliating 1-3 defeat at the hands of much lower ranked Morocco in the first round of the 37th Chess Olympiad here. However, led by Koneru Humpy, Indian eves made amends, cruising to an emphatic 3-0 victory against Brazil for an excellent start to their campaign in Turin.

In the much-hyped men’s team, Grandmasters P. Harikrishna and national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly could manage only half a point each on top two boards.

On the remaining boards, GM Sandipan Chanda and International Master-in-waiting Diwakar Prasad Singh suffered unexpected defeats, dealing an early blow to India’s medal prospects.

Surprisingly, top ranked GM Krishnan Sasikiran was rested in the first round despite the absence of Viswanathan Anand, who is expected to start from round IV.

The team hopes Anand’s arrival from Sofia, where the Indian ace just finished a super category event, will make the difference.

Surya Sekhar was the first to draw with Elbilia Jacques, rated around 250 points less than the Indian. Playing white, Surya Sekhar failed to get much advantage in an age-old Phillidor Defence game and signed peace in just 26 moves.

Among other higher ranked teams, USA could manage only a minimal victory over New Zealand, winning by a 2.5-1.5 margin and England dropped a half point against the UAE. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was held by IBCA top board Sergey Krylov, while Yarmonov Igor of IBCA held GM Alexander Huzman of Israel.

Among the 101 teams participating here, as many as 43 scored a thumping 3-0, win giving an indication of the difference of strength between the sides. (PTI)