A dream come true, a pleasant feeling. The maiden Chess Olympiad gold meant various things for the members of the five-strong Indian males’s group, spearheaded stupendously by the youngest ever challenger to the world title — D Gukesh. The 18-year-old issued a press release of kinds forward of his eagerly-anticipated world championship conflict in November towards Ding Liren of China by registering top-of-the-line ever particular person performances within the just-concluded forty fifth Olympiad. “I am just super happy right now,” Gukesh stated after profitable his last spherical recreation towards giant-killer Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia on Sunday.
It was a sensational show by {the teenager} on the highest board for India as he notched up 9 factors out of his 10 video games conceding simply a few attracts in addition to eight victories.
This phenomenal efficiency helped the group clinch gold as India scored a dominating 21 factors out of a attainable 22, profitable 10 and drawing only one match towards final Olympiad winners Uzbekistan.
“It was a very nice experience for me personally and for the team…this was basically a dream (come true),” Gukesh stated within the last press convention of the Olympiad.
The girls too gained gold and each the groups had been seen leaping in pleasure on the podium.
Another key contributor to the boys’s success was Arjun Erigaisi, who scored 10 factors enjoying all of the 11 video games within the occasion. He has now elevated himself to quantity three in stay world rankings behind Magnus Carlsen of Norway and American Hikaru Nakamura.
With a score of 2797 at the moment, Arjun is simply three factors shy of the magical 2800 mark and completely 5 behind Nakamura. Carlsen, on 2830, remains to be a ways away.
Humble as he’s, Erigaisi rapidly identified that it didn’t matter an excessive amount of.
“It’s a nice feeling but there are about 10-15 players with similar strength, so I don’t want to care too much about being number three or number four,” he stated.
On why he performed on board three regardless of being the very best rated participant within the Indian group firstly of the Olympiad, Erigaisi stated it was a part of technique.
“We thought Gukesh would do well on board one and I would do good on board three, because it worked out well, obviously no regrets,” he stated.
While each Gukesh and Erigaisi gained a person gold for his or her finest performances on board one and three respectively, one participant who missed out on private glory by a whisker was Vidit Gujrathi who scored 7.5 factors from his 10 video games however may solely end fourth in efficiency score on board 4.
R Praggnanandhaa’s efficiency won’t have been as much as his personal lofty expectations however he performed the right anchor particularly until the ninth recreation giving the much-needed stability to the group.
His lone loss towards American Wesley So was adopted by a last spherical victory that speaks volumes concerning the sturdy character the younger man possess.
Team captain N Srinath was clearly delighted.
“I don’t have to give them a lot of advice as these guys are professionals, they know what to do. Basically it was some preparation, bringing them together but mostly just sitting back watching them flow,” he stated.
As the group returns residence on Monday, the true celebrations might need to attend a few days but it surely has proved past any doubt that India can now be referred to as the Chess powerhouse of the world.
“Yesterday we were in the team meeting, we were already in the celebrations mood. I was super excited but I hoped there would be no game. We forced ourselves to focus and come here, do the job, and then celebrate,” stated Gukesh.
“I thought even if we lose the match, we still win on tie breaks. We wanted to win the match, of course. We were expecting a win. We were all pretty relaxed. But yeah, glad that me and Arjun got the job done.” Indian males had earlier gained two bronze medals — in 2014 and 2022 (held in Chennai) — within the showpiece.
“This tournament for me, especially since what happened last time, we were so close as the team to win goal. This time I thought no matter what I’m going to do, whatever it takes to win the team goal,” Gukesh advised Chess24 earlier.
“So I did not really think about the individual performance much. I just wanted the team to win this time.” He personally ensured that it occurred.
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