India, Sept. 27 -- Savitha Shri had blundered a pawn in the middlegame and at some point it seemed she would take a draw. The lights went out early on the first two boards in India's Round 10 clash against table toppers China on Saturday, with Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh drawing against Zhu Jiner and Song Yuxin, respectively at the Fide Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. It was down to Vantika Agrawal - she was in an equal position for the most part - and Savitha on the two lower boards to hold or find a win and keep India in the medal hunt, with one round remaining.

With the script on the board next to her flipping and her teammate Vantika staring at an imminent defeat, the 19-year-old knew the team's medal hopes pivoted on her. She spurn...