This is the first time both Indian men and women’s teams have won gold medals at a Chess Olympiad.
New Delhi: D Gukesh and Tania Sachdev recreated Rohit Sharma’s T20 World Cup 2024 celebration dance as the Indian men and women reigned supreme at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest on Sunday. While the Indian men defeated Slovenia, their female counterparts dominated Azerbaijan to grab maiden gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. Indian men had earlier won two bronze – in 2014 and 2022 while the women had won a bronze in the 2022 edition in Chennai.
In a video, that has gone viral on social media, Gukesh and Tania come dancing from opposite ends, imitating the Indian cricket captain with their respective men’s and women’s trophies. Upon coming in front of the podium where the other Indians were waiting, both Gukesh and Tania hand over their trophies to their teammates before everyone gets into a celebratory mood.
The Champions of Chess Olympiad 2024 🎉🥳🙌
Edit: Abhyudaya Ram #chess #chessbaseindia #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/R9OhPH1ntR
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) September 23, 2024
Earlier, World Championship challenger Gukesh and Arjun Erigaise yet again delivered in key games to help India secure their first title in the open category. Up against Slovenia, Gukesh was at his very best in the technical phase of the game as black against Vladimir Fedoseev. Though it was a laboured victory, the 18-year-old Grandmaster was spot on with his tremendous strategic display.
Erigaise also won with black on the third board against Jan Subeli out of a surprising Centre Counter defense game. If this was not enough, R Praggnanadhaa struck form and scored a crushing victory over Anton Demchenko, as India secured 3-0 triumph over Slovenia with one game still remaining.
The Indian men ended up with a remarkable 21 points out of a possible 22. They conceded just a lone 2-2 draw to Uzbekistan while beating the rest of the opponents. The Indian women then gave a rare double gold for the country as they scored 3.5-0.5 victory against Azerbaijan.
D Harika was at her technical best striking on the top board for the team and Divya Deshmukh yet again outclassed her opponent to confirm her individual gold medal on the third board as well. After R Vaishali drew her game, the Indian team confirmed the victory with Vantika Agrawal scoring another brilliant triumph.