India’s chess prodigy D Gukesh pulled off a thrilling Chess Olympiad for the nation and himself by a win over Russian Vladimir Fedoseev on Sunday in Hungary, with India gaining a historic gold.
Arjun Erigaisi, who has also had a smooth ride in Budapest picked up a win over Serbian Jan Subelj on the final day of the Olympiad.
Also Indian women’s contingent picked up their maiden gold as they outdid Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to bag the honours. Indian unit’s maiden gold was secured as China dropped a couple of boards against the USA in their fixture.
Indian team for the open category included Pentala Harikrishna, Erigaisi, Srinath Narayanan, Praggnanandhaa R, Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi.
Praggnanadhaa added to the proceedings with his win over Anton Demchenko, as India earned a decisive 3-0 triumph over Slovenia with a game to spare.
The Indian men’s unit picked up an overall 21 out of the available 22 points in Hungary in an absolutely dominant showing.
India won their first gold medal at the Olympiad when held in person; the last time was when they shared gold during an online Olympiad held during the pandemic.
Their best performances prior to this year have been the bronzes they won in 2022 (at Chennai) and 2014 (Tromso, Norway.)
Heading into the final round, India was on top of the standings in the open section with 19 points while China was second with 17 and Slovenia was third with 16.
In the women’s section, India and Kazakhstan share top spot with 17 points (with India slightly ahead on tiebreakers) while USA and Poland are hot on their heels with 16 points.
