Russia:
Led by Dronavalli Harika, Indian eves started off with a clean 4-0 first-round victory over Albania in the 39th Chess Olympiad.
The Indian men also scored a similar victory over Wales in which Grandmaster P Harikrishna was stretched by little known Tim Kett for a long time in a Semi Slav defence game.
After initial blues, Harikrishna finally turned the tide.
Top rated and first board player Krishnan Sasikiran played a thematic game to outwit Richard Jones from the white side of a Queen pawn game.
Playing white, Sasikiran faced the King's Indian defence and reached a slightly better endgame which was converted into full points with clinical ease.
On the last two boards for India, G N Gopal had it easy with his white pieces against Alan Bennett while national champion B Adhiban outplayed Jones Lolo, who played white.
The girls were quite impressive and made it all look easy without any hiccups. On the top board Harika won with white against Eglantina Shabanaj in a chance-less game.
Tania Sachdev had to sweat it out against Alda Shabanaj on the second board. Playing black, Tania was up against the Queen pawn opening and her choice of the Queen's Indian came good.
The middle game saw Shabanaj caught in a tactical web and the Albanian got her queen trapped. On the last two boards for India, Eesha Karavade and S Meenakshi got the better of Rozana Cimaj and Roela Pasku, respectively.
In other important encounters of the day, top seeded Russian men's team dropped a half point on the top board in what was the shocker of the day. On the receiving end was Alexander Grischuk, who could not sail past Irish International Master Sam Collins.
While the other three boards were easily won by Russia, defending champion Armenia was in for a bigger surprise when two of their stalwarts were held to draws.
Up against Costa Rica, Vladimir Akopian and Arman Pashikian were held to draws by their lesser known opponents.
While it does not make much difference in terms of match points, it will hurt in case of tie-breaker wherein game points will be taken into account.
The Olympiad this year has 11 rounds with two rest days thrown in.
Regardless of the margin with which a match is won, a team gets two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.
Indian results open: India beat Wales 4-0 - Krishnan Sasikiran beat Richard Jones; Tim Kett lost to P Harikrishna; G N Gopal beat Alan Bennett; Lolo Jones lost to B Adhiban.
Women: India beat Albania 4-0 - D Harika beat Eglantina Shabanaj; Alda Shabanaj lost to Tania Sachdev; Eesha Karavade beat Rozana Cimaj; Roela Pasku lost to S Meenakshi.