The Indian Chess team made their mark in the 45th Chess Olympiad organized in Hungary’s Budapest. In both men’s and women’s categories, the Indian chess genius beat their opponents to claim the glorious gold medal in the final round. In the men’s round D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanadhaa gained victory in their respective matches in the final round, on the other side the women’s team beat Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to earn the prestigious gold. Hence, without any further ado let’s dig into the complete highlights of the historic event.
The final match highlights of Chess Olympiad
Starting with India’s D.Gukesh who became the World No. 5. for his phenomenal performance in the final round. With a score of 9/10, he led the team to a remarkable victory making his live rating soared to 2794.
Moreover, Arjun Erigaisi also earned an incredible finish with 10/11 leading his live rating now standing at 2797. Erigaisi is now ranked World No. 3, ahead of Italian-American chess grandmaster Fabiano Caruana.
Additionally, the massive contribution from the exceptional teammates Praggnanandhaa R, Pentala Harikrishna, and Vidit Gujrathi made their victory quite inevitable with a statement score of 3.5-0.5 over Slovenia.
Meanwhile, in the women’s category D Harika has given her technical best striking on the top board making the team earn a powerful victory over Kazakhstan in the final round of the Chess Olympiad. Apart from Harika, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev, with Abhijit Kunte as captain also made massive contributions in the gold medal match. Moreover, Chessmaster Divya Deshmukh once again outclassed her opponent by claiming an individual gold medal on the third board as well.
Later on, R Vaishali also drew her game leading the Indian team to confirm the victory with Vantika Agrawal scoring another brilliant triumph.
The Indian men’s team had earlier won two bronze: first in 2014 and second in 2022, as for the women they also claimed a bronze in the 2022 edition organized in Chennai.
After the glorious victory on Sunday, the whole country showered praises on the team. Even Rahul Gandhi, the former Congress chief, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, has congratulated the Indian team for this historical achievement.
The minister tweeted, “Thrilled to see Team India clinch its first-ever Gold Medal in the Open Section at the Chess Olympiad. Huge congratulations to Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Pentala Harikrishna, Srinath Narayanan, and their teams. Your remarkable talent, brilliant strategies, and dedication have paid off.”
