We are the champions!!!

Hi Guys,
Posting after a very long time, I was a member of the five member team which went to Mersin, Turkey from 16th to 25th August 2008 for World Youth SubJunior Team Olympiad. Team India became the champions with a score of 28.5 out of possible 40 and edging out top seed Russia in TieBreaks to become the champions for the second consecutive time. The Indian Team consisted of (board order wise) Adhiban, Sethuraman, Shyam Sundar, Prasanna Rao, Priyadharshan.

I will put the contribution of each player towards the team score
Board 1 B.Adhiban 3/8
Board 2 S.P.Sethuraman 8.5/10 (also won gold medal for Board 2 perfomance)
Board 3 M.Shyam Sundar 6.5/8 (also won gold medal for Board 3 perfomance)
Board 4 Prasanna Rao 7/10
Board 5 K.Priyadharshan 3.5/4

I am giving a brief summary of our result Round by Round

Round 1
India vs Turkey-C
Scoreline 3-1

Adhiban was given rest so that he would be fresh when he plays on Board 1 agaisnt tougher opposition. We slightly understimated this young Turkey team. Prasanna and Shyam scored victories. I messed up my position in a winning endgame and had to be content with a draw, whereas Sethuraman missed chances and he also drew.

Round 2
India vs Russia
Scoreline 3.5-.5

The official site read Two superpowers of chess are meeting in the 2nd Round Wait and Watch.
I took rest against Russia. After many ups and downs Shyam managed to win. Prasanna and Adhiban had a much more smoother route to victory. Sethuraman in a winning position made some mess in a winnning position and made a draw.

Round 3
India vs Azerbaijan
Scoreline 3-1

Again, I took rest due to captain's decision and the same team which played against Russia played. Sethuraman, Shyam and Prasanna won, Adhiban lost his game to GM Eltaj Safarli.

Round 4
India vs Armenia
Scoreline 1-3

A shocker for us, Our spirits and confidence were rising after beating the 1st and 3rd seeds in back to back matches but really this loss was just shocking. At this point Armenia took 1point lead after beating us. Adhiban, Prasanna and Shyam lost their games and our only consolation win came through Sethuraman.

Round 5
India vs Turkey-B
Scoreline 3-1

We expected 4-0 and we came close to it but faltering at the last moment was Adhiban who had a completely winning position made a blunder and lost to a player who is 650 ELO points behind him. Shyam took rest today and I, Prasanna and Sethuraman won our games respectively.

Round-6
India vs Philliphines
Scoreline 2.5-1.5

I took rest and we won this game after great difficulties. With a timely win from Shyam and Sethuraman we managed to score this point. Prasanna drew his game in a slightly inferior position, Adhiban continued his dry run by losing to GM So Wesley.

Round-7
India vs Georgia
Scoreline 3.5-.5

I took rest and atlast Adhiban made a full stop to his bad run by winning his game against Levan Bregadze and Sethuraman and Prasanna also won their games. Shyam Sundar with utmost difficulty pulled off a draw a clear minus position.

Round-8
India vs Turkiye-A
Scoreline 1.5-2.5

Again our spirits were rising after the shocking loss to Armenia in Round 3 but again came a shocker we lost to Turkiye-A with only Shyam winning his game and Sethuraman drew his game. Adhiban and Prasanna lost their games at this point we thought that Gold medal is confirmed to Russia and we should fight for silver.

Round-9
India vs Switzerland-A
Scoreline 4-0

At last we managed to score 4-0 in the 9th round. Adhiban took rest today and Sethuraman, Shyam, Prasanna and I won our respective games. Now Russia had 26 points and we were on the second place with 25 points but the point was Russia had to meet the 3rd seeds Azerbaijan whereas we had to meet the weaker opposition England.

Round-10
India vs England
Scoreline 3.5-.5

First it was decided that, I should take rest but Shyam said he was unwell so the coach GM R.B.Ramesh had no other option other than fielding me. Prasanna was the only one who drew his game. I, Sethuraman and Adhiban won our games. I was the last one to finish the game in our team. We were eagerly watching the game Russia vs Azerbaijan Russia had won their games on Board 3 and 4 whereas Azerbaijan had scored a victory on Board 2 and th outcome of Board 1 between Shimanov Alesandor(Rus) vs Eltaj Safarli(Aze) will decide the champions of the event. The position was very unclear we were all praying to God Almighty to make the result of the game a draw. God Almighty heard to our prayers and the game was signed truce. Atlast we are the champions!!!!