India defeated France in a thrilling tie-breaker to enter the semifinals of the FIDE World Team Chess Championship here.

After the two sets of matches were shared by the teams by a 3-1 margin, the Indians won the blitz tie-break 2.5-.1.5. Nihal Sarin and S L Narayanan did the star turn with victories over Jules Moussard and Laurent Fressinet respectively early on Thursday.