Members of the Indian team who won at the World Chess Olympiad ( Photo from X -International Chess Federation )
By Web Desk
Budapest: India makes history with double gold at the World Chess Olympiad. India secured gold in both the open and women’s categories. This is the first time in history that India has won gold at the Chess Olympiad. Previously, India’s best performance was bronze medals in the 2022 and 2014 Chess Olympiads. In an exciting final round, India triumphed over Slovenia in the men’s category. India was the representative of this historic achievement in the open section. The gold was secured when world number three Arjun Kalyan defeated Slovenian player Jan Subelj.
D. Gukesh’s victories against Vladimir Fedoseev and R. Praggnanandhaa’s win over Anton Demchenko were crucial in India’s historic ascent. In the women’s category, India made history by defeating Azerbaijan. While D. Harika, Vaishali, and Divya Deshmukh secured victories, R. Vaishali managed to draw her game.
With eight victories in the open category, India initially drew with the reigning champions, Uzbekistan. They then bounced back by defeating top-seeded USA. Finally, India secured their historic achievement by overcoming Slovenia. Earlier, in the tenth round, India had stunned the top-seeded USA.
Though R. Praggnanandhaa lost to Wesley So, D. Gukesh delivered a victory against world number two Fabiano Caruana, while Arjun Erigaisi triumphed over Dominigo Perez Linan, ensuring success for India. Vidit Gujrathi’s match against Aronian ended in a draw
