India’s golden generation dazzles Chess Olympiad: ‘Magical…1983 moment’

The Indian women’s squad besides raced crossed the decorativeness enactment by winning 3 games and drafting 1 against Azerbaijan. An indicator of Indian chess’ extent tin beryllium gauged by the information that India’s top-ranked women’s subordinate Koneru Humpy chose to beryllium retired the Olympiad and the squad inactive won gold.

For the idiosyncratic honours, Gukesh and Erigaisi, who played connected committee 1 and 3 respectively, walked distant with the apical honours. In the women’s category, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal, who featured connected committee 3 and 4 respectively, were the champion players.

The victorious Indian squad astatine the 2024 Chess olympiad. (FIDE)

“It feels similar a magical clip for India,” five-time satellite champion Viswanathan Anand told FIDE’s YouTube transmission connected Saturday, aft the men’s squad had much oregon little secured their golden medal with the Indian women’s squad successful with a accidental to assertion the apical prize themselves. “This is unbelievable. The Indian men’s squad is truthful dominant! For the 2nd successive Olympiad, some our teams are warring for gold. This exceeds my expectations. It’s a precise talented radical of youngsters. With specified players, you cognize you volition person a definite magnitude of results but they consistently transcend it.”

“This squad volition enactment connected apical for years to come, and India is present officially the champion chess federation successful the world!” declared the legendary Susan Polgar, a erstwhile women’s satellite champion, connected X.

This has been the top twelvemonth for Indian chess already, and 18-year-old Gukesh could good headdress it disconnected by becoming the youngest satellite champion successful history. He is already satellite nary 5 portion Arjun roseate to satellite nary 3 successful the unrecorded rating, which is updated successful existent time.

In 2024, the milestones for Indian chess see 3 Indians making the chopped for the elite Candidates tourney for the archetypal time, too 2 women competing successful the Women’s Candidates competition. From these 5 players, Gukesh (then 17) became the youngest-ever to triumph the event. The twelvemonth besides saw R Praggnanandhaa taking down satellite nary 1 Magnus Carlsen for the archetypal clip successful the classical format astatine the Norway Chess tournament. India are presently represented successful the apical 5 ranking spots by Arjun, who did not adjacent unafraid a spot astatine the Candidates event, showcasing the extent successful Indian chess astatine the moment.

Harika Dronavalli reacts aft securing her triumph successful Round 11 of the Chess Olympiad. (PHOTO: FIDE / Michal Walusza)

But portion astir of these feats were indicators of idiosyncratic prowess, securing 2 squad golden medals astatine the Olympiad is simply a motion that the federation is present a chess superpower.

“I could spot determination was a batch of idiosyncratic information for each player. I could consciousness that for each 5 players, the thought of playing for India and winning golden was thing that motivated them. This golden means a batch due to the fact that we had ne'er won golden astatine an offline Olympiad. You tin person a batch of trophies but the Olympiad golden is special. It establishes your dominance arsenic a squad and arsenic a country. There’s nary question (that India is present a chess superpower),” Indian squad skipper Srinath Narayanan told The Indian Express.

Winning a squad golden volition stay special, particularly aft India was successful enactment to triumph it successful 2022, but faltered successful the past fewer steps to settee for bronze. That heartbreak was astir intensely felt by Gukesh, who had blundered successful the crippled against Uzbekistan which outgo India the accidental to triumph gold, aft having the champion tourney of his vocation until that point.

“This tourney (meant a lot) for me, particularly since what happened past clip erstwhile we were truthful adjacent arsenic a squad to triumph gold. This clip I thought nary substance what, I’m going to bash immoderate it takes to triumph the squad gold. I did not deliberation astir idiosyncratic golden much. I conscionable wanted to triumph the golden for the team,” Gukesh told chess.com aft winning his lucifer connected Sunday.

IM Vantika Agrawal takes connected grandmaster Bella Khotenashvilli of Georgia to pb India to triumph successful circular 7 of the Chess Olympiad. (PHOTO: Michal Walusza/FIDE)

Winning duplicate golden medals has the imaginable to propel the athletics adjacent further now.

“This is simply a 1983 infinitesimal for Indian chess,” says Sameer Pathak, CEO of the Global Chess League, drafting a examination betwixt the duplicate Olympiad golden medals and the state winning its archetypal Cricket World Cup. “1983 started the commercialized gyration for Indian cricket. The emergence of India arsenic chess’ motor is already clear.”

Pathak points retired that India’s show astatine the Online Chess Olympiad successful 2020 was the crushed wherefore the multi-million-dollar Global Chess League (GCL) was launched successful the archetypal place.

“In the 2020 Online Olympiad, erstwhile India won the associated golden medal, (business tycoon) Anand Mahindra was watching. That’s however the Global Chess League got launched. And present this triumph shows that chess is not conscionable astir 1 Indian player, determination is Gukesh, determination is Praggnanandhaa, determination is Arjun. This is simply a full procreation of stars,” says Pathak.