The Indian chess teams made history in Budapest on Sunday as they won gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad. The open team of D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Harikrishna Pentala beat Slovenia to win the gold. While the women’s team of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev got past Azerbaijan to register their maiden gold at the olympiad as well.
The men’s team was relentless and led throughout the tournament, winning 10 matches and drawing just one. Before the last round, they were 2 points ahead of China. In the final round, India only needed a draw to clinch the gold medal. However, India continued to press for a win and defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5.
The women’s team meanwhile had a tougher journey. After a strong start, winning their first seven matches, they stumbled in round 8, losing to Poland and then drawing with Team USA. Going into the final round, India was tied for first with Kazakhstan, and the race for the medals was down to the wire. The team however demonstrated excellent composure, winning the final match against Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5. At the same time, Kazakhstan only drew with the USA 2-2, making India the sole winners of the event.
Indian teams made history at the Chess Olympiad by defeating their respective opponents in the final round in Budapest to secure their first-ever maiden titles in a rare clean sweep of gold medals. The historic double win feat has been achieved by only two countries before, China and the erstwhile USSR.
Legendary chess champion Gary Kasparov lauded the team on the achievement, “A very impressive double gold achievement by India. “Vishy’s children” are all grown up and chess is coming home! Two American flags on the podiums as well, worthy of note. Add Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, with no European flags.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated the teams on the great achievement, taking to X he wrote, “Historic win for India as our chess contingent wins the 45th #FIDE Chess Olympiad! India has won the Gold in both open and women’s category at Chess Olympiad! Congratulations to our incredible Men’s and Women’s Chess Teams. This remarkable achievement marks a new chapter in India’s sports trajectory. May this success inspire generations of chess enthusiasts to excel in the game.”
Earlier people in the country knew about professional chess thanks to India’s first GM, Viswanathan Anand, and viewership was largely restricted to him. By 2010, India had a total of 23 GMs. Now, the number of Indian GMs is surging towards the three figure mark. India currently has five players that are ranked in the top 25 of the world. India is now steadily marching towards being considered a super power in chess. The country that invented the game centuries back, is finally sitting at its summit again.