Sunday 22 September 2024 is forever recorded in the golden pages for India in the world of chess. For the first time in the history of chess, India has won the gold medal of the Olympiad. In the ongoing Chess Olympiad 2024 in Hungary, for the first time, India became champions in the open division (men) and women’s category simultaneously. The Indian men’s team consisting of 5 players including D Gukesh, R Pragyanand, Arjun Arrigasi won the gold medal in the open category. After this, the women’s team of Tania Sachdev, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh also created history by winning the gold medal. India not only won gold in both the categories for the first time but created a stir by winning both the golds simultaneously.
India was already considered a contender for the title in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad in the Hungarian capital Budapest for the past several days. It is the world’s largest team chess tournament, organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), in which various countries participate. India hosted it for the first time in 2022. India then won bronze medals in the open division and the women’s event. The Indian men had earlier won bronze in 2014 as well, but this was the first time India had emerged as champions in both the events.
🇮🇳 India wins 45th FIDE #ChessOlympiad,
Congratulations to Gukesh D, Pragnanandha R, Arjun Arrigasi, Vidit Gujarati, Pantala Harikrishna and Srinath Narayanan (Captain)!
Gukesh de Vladimir defeats Fedosiev, and Arjun Arigaisi wins against Jan Subelj; India pic.twitter.com/jOGrjwsyJc
– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 22, 2024
Champion with a resounding victory in the last round
This time the Indian team of Gukesh, Pragyanand, Arjun Irigasi, Vidit Gujarati and P Harikrishna was participating in the open division. The Indian team almost secured their gold medal with the victory against America on Saturday. Then India was at the first position with 19 points while China was at the second position with 17 points. India needed only a draw in the 11th and final round on Sunday but India won the match 3-0 to clinch the title. Grandmasters Gukesh, Arjun and Pragyanand won their respective matches and thus India won the round as well as the title with one match to spare. India scored 21 out of 22 points in all 11 rounds.
🇮🇳India wins 45th FIDE Women’s Competition #ChessOlympiad,
Congratulations to Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Aggarwal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte (Captain)! pic.twitter.com/zsNde0tspo
– International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 22, 2024
The women’s team became champions after defeating Azerbaijan
On the other hand, apart from Vaishali, Tania, Divya, D Harika and Vantika Aggarwal were also included in the women’s section. Before the last round, the Indian team and Kazakhstan were joint first. In such a situation, the Indian team needed to defeat Azerbaijan in the last round match at any cost for the title. From India, Harika, Divya and Vanthika won their respective matches, while Vaishali’s match was a draw. Thus the Indian team won this round with 3.5-0.5 points and created history by winning the gold medal.
