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When you person World No. 4 Arjun Erigaisi playing Board 3 and winning 9 retired of 11 games astatine the Open Chess Olympiad, you cognize India’s chess juggernaut is cruising. The entertainingly eccentric “Mad Man of chess”, arsenic Magnus Carlsen dubbed him, not lone ensured India won the pivotal mic-drop mid-matches astatine Budapest connected the mode to its first-ever squad golden connected a committee – it had earlier shared a golden with Russia successful an online mentation of the tournament. Arjun routinely drove chap GM royalty watching him successful the hallway to distraction, with his brinkmanship methods, making Indian chess wildly breathtaking to watch.
The anointed eccentric, R Praggnanandhaa, calmly went astir securing Board 2, proving helium possesses the wide scope to play a holding crippled oregon onslaught adventurously. Gukesh Dommaraju soaked the unit of the apical board; Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna mopped up the stragglers.
India wasn’t conscionable bagging the golden successful commanding fashion. This was the unfurling of the afloat extent India boasts of, which could nudge retired some the Chinese and the high-rated Americans, adjacent successful the lack of Hikaru Nakamura.
Only the Uzbeks genuinely resisted, with a defiant draw. But India wasn’t to beryllium denied the gold.
In the women’s category, the disclaimers are successful semi-bold print: The full apical clump of Chinese were not successful Budapest, and the adjacent rung of superior “B” teamers finished 10th. But you couldn’t shingle disconnected the feeling that India’s golden successful the Women’s section, with adjacent depth, volition occurrence up the idiosyncratic ambitions of R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal, too poking D Harika to transportation connected and purpose for the highest peaks that person shown up connected the horizon.
The upcoming goals are straightforward: Indian women players person ne'er won the World Championship. And though 2 of them appeared astatine the Candidates, they volition request to interruption the Chinese stranglehold connected women’s chess and denote their arrival. A squad golden is wonderful. But moving forward, the women volition request an almighty propulsion to pierce done the Chinese monopoly astatine the top. The Olympiad triumph should professionalise the ecosystem and unfastened up purse strings truthful that deficiency of backing is nary deterrent.
Divya punched supra her value and the Olympiad was genuinely a breakthrough tourney for her confidence. But it was R Vaishali, soaking up the punches, playing achromatic successful 7 games, who returned without an idiosyncratic medal but displayed superior temperament to fortify her resolve.
China holds some chess titles – successful Open and Women categories. That extremity is what the young Indians volition request to pin connected their dartboards.
In the Open section, a granular dissecting of this glorious effect volition instantly item the adjacent people for India. Vishwanath Anand has been the crushed this talented clump picked chess, and they beryllium it to him to regain the World rubric helium mislaid successful 2013. D Gukesh gets the archetypal accidental erstwhile helium takes connected Ding Liren this December successful Singapore.
Ding has looked successful wretched signifier done the Olympiad. But helium had looked down and retired against Ian Nepomniachtchi astatine the past World Championships, and bounced backmost to assertion the title, leaving the Russian scratching his man-bun. Ding wasn’t expected to uncover his cards astatine the Olympiad and predictably struggled to eke retired a azygous win. But Gukesh volition nary uncertainty find a acold trickier hostile crossed the committee successful Singapore. Beyond the caput games, the teen volition request to beryllium acold sturdier successful the Classical marathon.
Russia wasn’t astatine the Olympiad, and the US, contempt 3 2750 Elo-rated players connected their team, ne'er truly got into superior contention, having near Nakamura behind. Ding Liren didn’t adjacent play the apical board, truthful China was pulling punches too. At the World Championships, not an inch volition beryllium ceded, and that remains the biggest situation for India and Gukesh successful 2024 — dislodging Ding.
In the agelong run, each 3 — Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandha – are susceptible of taking down Magnus Carlsen consistently to genuinely person the satellite that Indians reign supreme. But this volition request immense enactment against a prepared, driven Carlsen and erstwhile he’s adjacent somewhat nicked oregon wounded and connected the rampage erstwhile connected the counter.
Perhaps, the astir breathtaking show for Indians could beryllium successful pursuing which of the three, could instrumentality down Carlsen, and yet combat disconnected the different Indians.
The Uzbeks and Turks and a somewhat much superior clump of Americans are expected to travel hard astatine India’s teenage and aboriginal 20s brigade successful the coming years. Defending the Olympiad golds mightiness not beryllium arsenic straightforward arsenic winning them with a precise bully team, though the idiosyncratic World titles volition stay the eventual markers of greatness.
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