The Indian men’s team in the open section was so breathtakingly formidable that in 44 games, they lost just once, winning 27 and drawing the remaining.
It was one of the most dominant performances in the history of chess. And it came from India’s golden generation, which delivered two gold medals at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Beside the team medals, there were also four individual gold with D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal claiming individual honours.
The Indian men’s team in the open section was so breathtakingly formidable that in 44 games, they lost just once, winning 27 and drawing the remaining. They capped the event by brushing aside Slovenia with three wins and a draw.
The Indian women’s team also raced across the finish line by winning three games and drawing one against Azerbaijan. An indicator of Indian chess’ depth can be gauged by the fact that India’s top-ranked women’s player Koneru Humpy chose to sit out the Olympiad and the team still won gold.
For the individual honours, Gukesh and Erigaisi, who played on board 1 and 3 respectively, walked away with the top honours. In the women’s category, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal, who featured on board 3 and 4 respectively, were the best players.
“It feels like a magical time for India,” five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand told FIDE’s YouTube channel on Saturday, after the men’s team had more or less secured their gold medal with the Indian women’s team in with a chance to claim the top prize themselves. “This is unbelievable. The Indian men’s team is so dominant! For the second successive Olympiad, both our teams are fighting for gold. This exceeds my expectations. It’s a very talented group of youngsters. With such players, you know you will have a certain amount of results but they consistently exceed it.”
“This team will stay on top for years to come, and India is now officially the best chess nation in the world!” declared the legendary Susan Polgar, a former women’s world champion, on X.
This has been the greatest year for Indian chess already, and 18-year-old Gukesh could well cap it off by becoming the youngest world champion in history. He is already world no 5 while Arjun rose to world no 3 in the live rating, which is updated in real time.
In 2024, the milestones for Indian chess include three Indians making the cut for the elite Candidates tournament for the first time, besides two women competing in the Women’s Candidates competition. From these five players, Gukesh (then 17) became the youngest-ever to win the event. The year also saw R Praggnanandhaa taking down world no 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in the classical format at the Norway Chess tournament. India are currently represented in the top 5 ranking spots by Arjun, who did not even secure a spot at the Candidates event, showcasing the depth in Indian chess at the moment. But while most of these feats were indicators of individual prowess, securing two team gold medals at the Olympiad is a sign that the nation is now a chess superpower.
Winning a team gold will remain special, especially after India was in line to win it in 2022, but faltered in the last few steps to settle for bronze. That heartbreak was most intensely felt by Gukesh, who had blundered in the game against Uzbekistan which cost India the chance to win gold, after having the best tournament of his career until that point.