Khel Vaani | 45th Chess Olympiad: India Bring Home Kings And Queens Of 64 Squares For The First Time

It was a historic moment for India on September 22, at SYMA Sports and Conference Centre in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Before the final (11th) round of the Forty-Fifth Chess Olympiad got moving four hours before the usual time (to accommodate the closing ceremony), emotions were running high. For the first time in the history of Chess Olympiad, an Indian team had gone so far, and was on the cusp of scripting history.

On the Brink

In the open section, the unstoppable India reached the summit when it defeated top-ranked team United States of America 2.5-1.0; in the round ten match GM Gukesh Dommaraju defeated higher-ranked GM Fabiano Caruana while GM Arjun Erigaisi took down GM Leinier Dominguez.

Going into the final round, there remained only improbable statistical probability that could deny India the open gold medal: “China winning 4-0 and India losing 0-4 in the eleventh round.”

But in the women’s section, the last round was to be nothing less than a thriller. After the tenth round after defeating China, India was tied at first position with Kazakhstan and, just one point ahead of USA. Even the Polish team were also in the hunt for the gold.

What a Day

And what a day September 22 turned out to be! Team India eventually triumphed in style at the 45th Chess Olympiad, winning both open and women’s competitions, thereby bringing home both the Kings and Queens of Sixty-Four squares for the first time. Here is what happened:

One, Pure Gold: Ranked second behind USA in the open section of the competition, the India team comprised Gukesh D, Praggnanandhaa R, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Harikrishna Pentala, with Srinath Narayanan as the captain. It came out victorious in 10 out of 11 rounds, drawing just once. And in the final round, when they just required a draw, they thrashed Slovenia 3.5-0.5 to win their maiden gold medal.

Two, Phenomenal: While all members of Team India performed admiringly in the open competition, it was a phenomenal tournament for Gukesh and Arjun. In a sterling performance, Gukesh, scored near perfect 9 points in 10 games and earned the individual gold medal on the top board. Arjun Erigaisi went a notch above, hero of the team, he scored 10 points in 11 games and romped home with individual gold on board three. In the process, both Arjun and Gukesh significantly improved their FIDE ratings coming tantalisingly close to clearing the 2800 bar — the dream of every chess grandmaster

In fact, Erigaisi is only a couple of points short of this feat

Three, tearjerker stagecraft: Journey of the women team to the summit turned real tearjerker. After a perfect midway score, where the team led the pack after winning all the seven rounds, it stumbled in round eight and nine, losing to Poland and drawing with USA, before regrouping fabulously. Going into the final round, India was tied for first with Kazakhstan, and the race for the medals was down to the wire.

Four, double-delight: As they entered round eleven in a must-win final round, the team, comprising Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev, with Abhijit Kunte as the captain, held to the nerve and demonstrated excellent composure and delivered in style, winning the final match against Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5. At the same time, Kazakhstan could manage only a draw with USA 2-2, making India the sole winners of the event.

Five, sensational debut: The real sensational debut was of 18-year-old Divya Deshmukh, a new addition to the team who barely three months after getting crowned World Junior Chess Champion was unstoppable throughout the tournament. She played all the games, scored 9.5 points, and secured the crucial victory in the final match. Individual gold on board three is a well-deserved tribute to her tenacity, persistence and perseverance.

Never Before

Not only the country won its maiden gold medal both in the open and women competition for the first time, four members of Team India — Gukesh Dommaraju (Board 1) and Arjun Erigaisi (Board 3) in the open competition and Divya Deshmukh (Board 3) and Vantika Agrawal (Board 4) — were declared best players on their boards.

A Journey Beyond Words

In a tournament comprising 1,884 competitors (975 in open and 909 in women) with 245 Grand Masters in open and 17 Grandmasters in women competitions, Team India shined in both Open and Women sections like never before— in 11 rounds, women just lost one while in the open round, India won ten rounds, drew once and did not lose at all.

Individual performance too were breath-stoppers: in open competition, it was led by Arjun Erigaisi, with 10 points in 11 rounds (9 wins 2 draws), D. Dukesh, with 9 points in 10 rounds (8 wins, 2 draws), Vidit Gujrathi, with 7.5 points in 10 rounds (5 wins, 5 draws), R. Praggnanandhaa, with 6 points in 10 rounds (3 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss); P. Harikrishna, with 2.5 points in 3 rounds (2 wins and 1 draw).

India, in the Open competition, in forty-four games in eleven rounds, just lost one game.

In the women’s section, the star performer was Divya Deshmukh who secured 9.5 out of 11 rounds, with 8 wins and 3 draws. She was followed by Vartika Agrawal, with 7.5 points in 9 rounds (6 wins. 3 draws), R. Vaishali, with 6 points in ten rounds (4 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses), D. Harika (3 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses) and Tania Sachdev, with 3.5 points in 5 matches (2 win and 3 draws)

Out of the Ordinary

Some moments script history, some define history. Indian men and women team both scripted and defined history in Budapest: India became only the second country in the world after the erstwhile USSR to retain Chess Olympiad’s Nona Gaprindashvili Cup, a trophy given to the team with the best overall performance across the open and women’s sections. India was first awarded this cup in 2022 at Chennai Chess Olympiad. Also, with the stunningly winning both the Open and Women Competition Gold Medal, India became only the third country after USSR and China in the 100 years of Chess Olympiad to achieve this feat.

In The Making

The young-turk of Indian chess brigade arrived at par in 2022 at Chennai Chess Olympiad where, both in open (India B Team) and women category it won bronze. Also, in 2022 in the open category India-A team was placed fourth. This performance led to the country winning the famous Nona Gaprindashvili Cup, awarded for the overall best performing team.

Before this, India’s performance fluctuated with a 4th position in 2016, 6th position in 2018 and 2004, 8th position in 2000 and the tenth rank in 1990.

For the women’s team that secured the bronze medal in 2022, it has been an uphill climb. Before that it had secured 4th position in 2012, 5th in 2016, 8th in 2018, 9th in 1982 and 2004 and 10th in 2014.

Legendary Vishwanathan Anand expected India’s youth brigade to peak in the 2026 Chess Olympiad but they gave him the perfect gift two years in advance, thereby proving correct the prophesy of Garry Kasparov who early this year talked of “Indian earthquake in Toronto as a signal of the shifting of the power dynamic in world chess” when Gukesh won the candidates final.

It All Started Here

Chess was invented in India in the name of “Chaturanga” in 5 AD during the Gupta period. Unfortunately, at the time of independence, it had mysteriously vanished from the national sporting scene except in the story of Shatranj Ke Khiladi by Premchand.

How did India storm as a Chess powerhouse? I encourage readers to read my opinion piece “Khel Vaani | Checkmate: How India Became Chess Grandmaster of the World” on January 3, 2023 in News18 to get the full story.

A number of young chess players are emerging on the horizon: my dated data puts it at 85 Grandmasters (GM), 124 International Masters (IM), 23 Woman Grandmasters (WGM), and 42 Woman International Masters (WIM)

Trailblazers

Indubitably, the whole story of chess becoming a household game begins with World Champion Vishwanathan Anand who became grandmaster in 1987. Since then the country has developed a strong ecosystem in which Anand and other early chess wizards have played a yeoman service.

But talking of trailblazers of Indian chess, I must talk of two:

Mir Sultan Khan: Born in undivided India, belonging to Punjab (Pakistan side) in 1920s-30s, he would defeat the best players of the world. In 2024 he was awarded Grandmaster norm posthumously by FIDE.

Manuel Aaron: Post-Independence chess reappeared on the Indian scene when the first chess trailblazer surfaced. Lo and behold, it was not Viswanathan Anand in 1988. It was Manuel Aaron, the first chess superstar of India. He was the first Indian to become International Chess Master in 1961 and the first chess player to be conferred Arjuna Award in 1962, 24 years ahead of Viswanathan Anand. Early in his life, Anand is supposed to have attended his chess lectures.

Once Anand arrived at the scene, there was no looking back for India.

All Roads Lead to…

The question is after the Olympiad double-delight gold what next.

From here all roads lead to Singapore 2024 FIDE World Championship where Challenger D Gukesh takes on the defending champion Ding Liren of China for the crowning glory, with the tournament to be played between November 20 and December 15, 2024.