There was a time when Viswanathan Anand was the only flagbearer for India in the brainy and tactical world of chess, the first and only grandmaster from the country. Till around 1999 also the country could boast of only three grandmasters. However, 24 years down the line the country has witnessed a near chess revolution, throwing up an astounding 84 grandmasters.
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On Sunday, India topped its previous best performances to clinch its maiden gold medals in both the open section as well as women’s section of the 2024 Chess Olympiad at Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.
The International Chess Federation in separate congratulatory posts on its official X handle said:
“India wins the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad!
“Congratulations to Gukesh D, Praggnanandhaa R, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and Srinath Narayanan (Captain)!
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“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!”
“India wins the 45th FIDE Women’s Chess Olympiad!
“Congratulations to Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte (Captain)!”
www.indiatoday.in reported that after the Indian team’s historic victory in the open section, the women’s team, comprising Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte secured the gold medal completing a glorious double for India in the Chess Olympiad.
In the final round of the competition, India beat Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to keep a strong charge for the gold medal. Harika, Divya and Vantika won their matches against their respective opponents while Vaishali secured a draw. Despite their win against Azerbaijan, India were not assured of the top spot till USA was able to hold Kazakhstan to a 2-2 draw. If Kazakhstan had won the match vs the USA, the competition would have been forced to tie-breaks, the reported added.
According to www.sportstar.thehindu.com/, earlier India’s title win in the open section was secured in the final round after second-placed China dropped points on two boards against the USA, while Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh clinched wins for the Indians against Slovenia.
The Sportstar report further said that the Indian team enjoyed a near-flawless run in the competition, starting with eight wins before it was held to a draw by defending champion Uzbekistan.
India soon returned to winning ways, trumping top-seeded USA in the penultimate round to effectively seal the title.
With this India bettered its performance from the 2022 Olympiad where it won a bronze medal on home soil. India had previously won a bronze in the 2014 edition, the report added.
Singapore will host the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match
By another post on its official X handle, the International Chess Federation, announced that Singapore will host the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match.
The post read thus: “The defending World Champion, Ding Liren, will battle it out against the Challenger, Gukesh D. The Match, which boasts a sensational prize fund of 2.5 million USD, is set to take place between November 20 and December 15, 2024.
“Will Ding prevail and retain his title, or will Gukesh become the new and youngest-ever World Champion?
“The Singapore Chess Federation, supported by the Government of Singapore, has won the bid to host the FIDE World Championship Match 2024. FIDE received three competitive applications for hosting the World Championship Match – from New Delhi (India), Chennai (India), and Singapore. After reviewing the bids and inspecting all potential host cities for their venues, amenities, event programs, and opportunities, FIDE has selected Singapore as the host of Match,” the post explained.
