2024-09-27 19:20:22
New Delhi: Just as batsmen in India lined up after seeing Sachin Tendulkar, Vishwanathan Anand has done the same in chess. This legend has influenced an entire generation. For the first time, India has won gold in Chess Olympiad. First the boys won the gold medal, later the girls also won the gold medal. When Vishwanathan Anand started playing in the 80s, there was not a single grandmaster in the country. There are 85 grandmasters in the country today. The Indian team could never win gold during Anand’s tenure, but his contribution to this success is indeed the biggest.The joy of victory and the eagerness to celebrate
The chess revolution currently going on in India was started by Vishwanath Anand. India has become a major chess power in both men’s and women’s categories. Vishwanath Anand would probably be the happiest today. Anand was so excited about this that he congratulated the Indian players for victory with one round left. However, they were later told that technically there is still some chance for the team running in second place. Anand posted on X, ‘Historical performance. Definitely an amazing game.
After the men, cheers to the women’s team as well.
Grandmasters D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaysi and R Praggnananda won their respective matches against Slovenia in the 11th round. Indian women defeated Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to clinch the gold medal for the country. D Harika showed technical superiority on the first board and Divya Deshmukh once again outclassed her opponent to seal her individual gold medal on the third board. Vantika Agarwal’s spectacular win after R Vaishali’s draw ensured the Indian team the gold medal. The Indian men’s team had earlier won bronze medals in the 2014 and 2022 editions of the tournament. The Indian women’s team had won bronze in the 2022 edition in Chennai.
Indian men’s team: Arjun Erigaysi, Vidit Gujarati, P Harikrishna, D Gukesh, R Praggnananda
Indian women’s team: Tania Sachdev, Vantika Agarwal, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, D Harika