A dream come true, a nice feeling. The maiden Chess Olympiad gold meant different things for the members of the five-strong Indian men’s team, spearheaded stupendously by the youngest ever challenger to the world title — D Gukesh. The 18-year-old issued a statement of sorts ahead of his eagerly-anticipated world championship clash in November against Ding Liren of China by registering one of the best ever individual performances in the just-concluded 45th Olympiad. “I am just super happy right now,” Gukesh said after winning his final round game against giant-killer Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia on Sunday.
It was a sensational display by the teenager on the top board for India as he notched up nine points out of his 10 games conceding just a couple of draws besides eight victories.
This phenomenal performance helped the team clinch gold as India scored a dominating 21 points out of a possible 22, winning 10 and drawing just one match against last Olympiad winners Uzbekistan.
“It was a very nice experience for me personally and for the team…this was basically a dream (come true),” Gukesh said in the final press conference of the Olympiad.
The women too won gold and both the teams were seen jumping in joy at the podium.
Another key contributor to the men’s success was Arjun Erigaisi, who scored 10 points playing all the 11 games in the event. He has now elevated himself to number three in live world rankings behind Magnus Carlsen of Norway and American Hikaru Nakamura.
With a rating of 2797 currently, Arjun is just three points shy of the magical 2800 mark and totally five behind Nakamura. Carlsen, on 2830, is still some distance away.
Humble as he is, Erigaisi quickly pointed out that it did not matter too much.
“It’s a nice feeling but there are about 10-15 players with similar strength, so I don’t want to care too much about being number three or number four,” he said.
On why he played on board three despite being the highest rated player in the Indian team at the start of the Olympiad, Erigaisi said it was part of strategy.
“We thought Gukesh would do well on board one and I would do good on board three, because it worked out well, obviously no regrets,” he said.
While both Gukesh and Erigaisi won an individual gold for their best performances on board one and three respectively, one player who missed out on personal glory by a whisker was Vidit Gujrathi who scored 7.5 points from his 10 games but could only finish fourth in performance rating on board four.
R Praggnanandhaa’s performance might not have been up to his own lofty expectations but he played the perfect anchor especially till the ninth game giving the much-needed stability to the team.
His lone loss against American Wesley So was followed by a final round victory that speaks volumes about the strong character the young man possess.
Team captain N Srinath was obviously delighted.
“I don’t have to give them a lot of advice as these guys are professionals, they know what to do. Basically it was some preparation, bringing them together but mostly just sitting back watching them flow,” he said.
As the team returns home on Monday, the real celebrations might have to wait a couple of days but it has proved beyond any doubt that India can now be called the Chess powerhouse of the world.
“Yesterday we were in the team meeting, we were already in the celebrations mood. I was super excited but I hoped there would be no game. We forced ourselves to focus and come here, do the job, and then celebrate,” said Gukesh.
“I thought even if we lose the match, we still win on tie breaks. We wanted to win the match, of course. We were expecting a win. We were all pretty relaxed. But yeah, glad that me and Arjun got the job done.” Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals — in 2014 and 2022 (held in Chennai) — in the showpiece.
“This tournament for me, especially since what happened last time, we were so close as the team to win goal. This time I thought no matter what I’m going to do, whatever it takes to win the team goal,” Gukesh told Chess24 earlier.
“So I did not really think about the individual performance much. I just wanted the team to win this time.” He personally ensured that it happened.
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