SAJI CHACKO
INDIA has emerged as a superpower in chess by winning both men’s and women’s titles in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest on September 22. While the men’s team emerged champions with 21 match points (out of 22), the women team bagged the title after thrashing Azerbaijan.
The magnitude of the Indian double triumph can be gauged by the fact that apart from the former USSR (not even Russia), no country has ever managed to win the men and women title in the same year.
The sheer depth of the Indian men’s team was evident from the fact that India never lost a single match and bagged 21 match points to stay ahead in the fray. In an extremely competitive sport like chess where winners are usually decided by tie- breakers, the Indian men’s team just needed a mere draw in their final fixture against Slovenia. India went on to thrash Slovenia to crown themselves in glory.
The trio of D Gukesh (world No 7), Arjun Erigaisi (No.3) and R Pragganandhaa (12) were in splendid form. They won most of their matches and as a result ensured that there was no pressure on any particular player to perform. During the heydays of Viswanathan Anand, the five- time world champion had enormous pressure as had to win all his matches in order to keep Team India in contention. The overall balance and depth in the men’s team augurs very well for the future dominance of India.
Unlike the men, the women had to fight all the way before giving a rare double gold for the country as they scored 3.5-0.5 victory against Azerbaijan. Despite missing veteran Koneru Humpy, the women’s quartet of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdeva played out of their skins to emerge triumphant.
In the must-win final tie 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.
