Say Chess!

India’s D Gukesh is all concentration in the final round of the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest yesterday

India galloped to a historic, first-ever gold medal by defeating Slovenia with a 3.5-0.5 score in the final 11th round of the 45th Chess Olympiad to tally 21 points out of a possible 22 - the most dominating performance by any team in the last two decades. The Indian women also rose magnificently to the occasion, making it a double delight for India by winning the team gold, also a historical first defeating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to tally 19 points. Both the Indian teams emerged clear cut champions and retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Cup awarded for the best Federation (Open + women standings). In fact, it was a clean sweep for India, winning all three titles at stake in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday. It was an amazing team effort by both the Indian teams in the fray.

Gold like never before

Gold glittered like never before as Gukesh defeated Vladimir Fedesov on the top board to bag an individual gold with 9/10 points and an astonishing rating performance of Elo 3041. Arjun Erigaisi also put up a stupendous show, tallying an amazing 10/11 points to win an individual gold medal on Board 3. Divya Deshmukh, with a superb 9.5/11, also bagged an individual gold for Board 3 in the women's section. Vantika Agrawal also won an individual gold for Board 4 with a 7.5/9 score. A few games were still in progress at the time of going to press and the other medals were yet to be decided. The Indian team also set a record for the highest-ever score in an Olympiad, totalling 21 points. The previous record (20 points), was held by USA and Ukraine. Interestingly, it was another Asian country, China, which had last bagged a golden double in 2018.

Arjun Erigaisi. PIC/FIDE CHESS

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The Indian team captained by GM Srinath Narayanan (non-playing) and comprising Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun, Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna simply bulldozed through the entire field, conceding only one draw to defending champions Uzbekistan. Gukesh, renowned for his intensity on and off the board, couldn't stop beaming as he admitted that the team were already in a celebratory mood after Saturday's victory over USA, but forced themselves to focus for the final round yesterday as they enjoyed a two-point lead going into the final round.

Vantika Agrawal during her win yesterday

The Indian women on the other hand, were tied for top place with Kazaksthan and only a victory would put them in contention for the gold. Playing her ninth Olympiad, D Harika, playing on the top board, shed tears of joy as she won her crucial encounter. T Vaishali, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev were the other team members captained by GM Abhijit Kunte. The Indian team faced some hiccups with a defeat to Poland in the eighth round, but bounced back.

Divya Deshmukh en route her win in Budapest yesterday. PICS/AP; PTI

Elite Elo club in touching distance

Erigaisi has now overtaken Fabiano Caruana of the USA as the third-highest rated player in the world in Live ratings. Interestingly, both Erigaisi and Gukesh are tantalisingly close to entering the Elite Elo 2800 club with live ratings of Elo 2797.2 and 2794.1 respectively. Gukesh is fifth in Live ratings. In the last Olympiad at Chennai in 2022, India B and the women's team had bagged bronze medals.