The Russian men’s team clinched gold with a 3.5:0.5 win over Sweden

The Russian men’s team have won the World Team Championship for the first time since 2013 after they crushed Sweden while England lost to China and India drew against the USA. Gold was also decided with a round to spare in the women’s section, where the Chinese team won an 8th match in a row to claim a first Women’s World Team Championship since 2011. Tan Zhongyi (6.5/8) and Lei Tingjie (6/7) got the wins against the USA. Silver and bronze medals will be up for grabs as the last round starts three hours earlier than usual on Thursday.

The Russian men’s team doesn’t have a stellar reputation in team tournaments, but that’s largely down to the Olympiad, which they’ve famously failed to win since 2002. Over the same period they’ve now won 4 of the 7 World Team Championships that have been played, and this time round they took full advantage of beating their key rivals China in Round 3. By the penultimate round they knew a victory might win them the title, and they methodically set about crushing the Swedish team.