Chess has been around for a long long time in the country of India. But Indian Chess has never shone brighter and has never achieved levels greater than it has done today on the 22nd of September, 2024. Today will be a date marked in Gold in the history books of Chess as Team India wins their first ever Gold at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest in the Open as well as women categories, after a little controversy and absolute domination for all 11 rounds of the competition!
The fact that the Indian team had so many youngsters with many many years of top-level chess makes India’s first-ever victory at the Chess Olympiad all the more impressive. The Indian Team had come very very close to winning the Chess Olympiad last year but failed to do so at the crucial moment. One of the men who witnessed this heartbreak in real time last year was Gukesh, the 18-year-old Grandmaster, who this time, representing India on Board 1, was the player who was arguably the best player at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad.
The teenager will take on Ding Liren in about 2 months at the FIDE World Championship match and will be a huge favourite to beat his Chinese opponent. Gukesh along with Arjun Erigaisi, another teenager on the Indian team, were absolute monsters in the Open Category and are both closing in on the 2800 ELO mark.
Gukesh’s game against Wei Yi should be hanged in the Louvre as one of the best endgames ever played in Chess. It was that match that made it certain that no one would be able to defeat India. India’s board 1 then went on to play against Fabiano Caruana, the current world number 2 and was successful in even beating Caruana, who is often referred to as the Human Calculator in Chess.
On Board 2, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, was quite possibly India’s least impactful player throughout the Chess Olympiad and even he was defeated only once throughout the tournament. Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi and Hari, the oldest player on the team rounded up the Open Category for India. By winning 21 out of 22 points, India set a new record in the Chess Olympiad (11 rounds), the previous one, 20/22, was set by the USA.
In the Women’s Category, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte (Captain) won India’s first medal in the Women’s category as well! On the Final day, Harika Dronavalli burst into tears after converting a losing situation around in her favour securing the Gold for India.
This undoubtedly is the Brightest and Greatest Day in the History of Chess in India. From here we can only go higher and higher with the kind of young talent India possess.
