Mallorca (Spain): Led by World Rapid Champion Viswanathan Anand, Indian men came out with flying colours registering an emphatic 3.5-0.5 victory over Costa Rica in the second round of the 36th Chess Olympiad.

With the win, India took their tally to a respectable 6 points out of a possible 8 and even though they remain two points behind early leaders like Ukraine and Czech Republic, it turned out to be a far better day than the first round when the fifth seed team could muster just 2.5 points out of 4 in the opening round.

Anand outplayed Ramirez yesterday (Oct 16, 2004) from the white side of a French defence game against Alejandro Ramirez. The victory for the Indian came fast as the game ended in under two hours time.

The other Indian men team members Krishnan Sasikiran and P Harikrishna recorded their first victory in the Olympiad over Gonzalez Bernal and Valdes Leonardo respectively while National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly was held to a draw by Francisco Hernandez on the fourth board.

Ranked 59th before the start of this round, the Indian team will improve its position considerably after today's match.

Playing his pet Winawer against the French, Anand gave absolutely no chances to teenager Ramirez.

The Indian ace was on top right from the beginning, obviously because of his excellent opening preparation, and cashed in on an erroneous plan by Ramirez to win two rooks for two minor pieces.