India shine in Chess Olympiad, wins historic double gold in men’s, women’s competition
India’s previous best performances in Chess Olympiad include two bronze in 2014 and 2022
Budapest: India displayed a stupendous performance at the ongoing International Chess Federation (FIDE) Chess Olympiad in Budapest to claim two gold medals in both men’s and women’s events on Sunday.
In the final round of the tournament, India’s men team of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna shined over Slovenia to clinch the gold medal.
It was the wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi which gave India to a 2-0 lead and confirmed the gold medal. Later in the final round, Praggnandhaa also won his game and Vidit ended her bout with a draw. India defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 to seal the gold medal.
“India wins the 45th FIDE #ChessOlympiad! Congratulations to Gukesh D, Praggnanandhaa R, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and Srinath Narayanan (Captain)! Gukesh D beats Vladimir Fedoseev, and Arjun Erigaisi prevails against Jan Subelj; India secures at least a tie in their match against Slovenia, and clinches the gold,” the International Chess Federation wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s chess team of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev also won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.
Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agrawal won their respective matches in the final round. While, R Vaishali drew her match against Ulviyya Fataliyeva.
According to ESPN, the women’s team improved their bronze medal from the Chennai Olympiad in 2022, which was their first.
“India beats Azerbaijan 3,5-0,5! Women’s #ChessOlympiad | Round 11 All eyes are on Kazakhstan vs USA. If Kazakhstan prevails, they will tie for first with India. Then everything will be decided in tie-breaks,” the International Chess Federation wrote on X.
Earlier in the 10th round of the Chess Olympiad, Indian men’s team defeated USA by 2.5-1.5.
D Gukesh, India’s FIDE Candidates tournament winner, won against Fabiano Caruana by 1-0 to start things off.
Though the prodigious R Praggnanadhaa recorded a rare failure against Wesley So by 0-1, India bounced back in the round with Arjun Erigaisi’s 1-0 win against Leinier Perez while Vidit Gujrathi had a 0.5-0.5 draw against Levon Aronian.
Before this, Indian men’s team had won eight rounds in a row before their streak came to an end with a draw in ninth round. India sits at the top of the table with 19 match points after 10 rounds.
India’s previous best performances in the Chess Olympiad include two bronze medals in 2014 and 2022. In an online Olympiad back in 2020 during Covid-19 though, India shared the gold with Russia.