On Sunday, September 22, 2024, India made history as the Indian contingents won both men's and women's competitions at the 45th International Chess Federation (FIDE) Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, for the first time.
In addition to winning the team championships, India also walked away with four individual gold medals as Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal each bagged individual gold medals on their respective boards.
Wins for Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Arjun Erigaisi sealed gold in the men’s event — known as the Open event — while Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev won their respective games to secure gold in the women’s competition.
"This time I thought no matter what I'm going to do whatever it takes to win the team gold!"Gukesh Dommaraju to Chess.com
Grand Masters Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu all won as the Indian men wrapped up victory in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad with a statement 3.5-0.5 win over Slovenia. The India men's contingent finished a full four points ahead of five teams, with the United States securing a silver medal after a sole win by GM Wesley So took down China, while GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzbekistan) secured a bronze medal with a win over France.
“For me, it is much more emotional than for the others. I’ve been playing for 20 years to see a gold medal, and I am glad that finally, I see India on top of the podium. I am happy and proud of the girls. The youngsters came up on the team, and they did extremely well.”Harika Dronavalli
In the Women's competition, the Indian women's team clinched gold for the first time after narrowly missing out when playing on home soil at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022. After convincingly beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5, the Indian women's team saw Kazakhstan, on equal match points from the outset, tie their match with the U.S. team.
These historic wins had been a long time coming for India — widely considered to be the region where 'chaturanga', the earliest iteration of chess, was invented. GM Hikaru Nakamura credited Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand — the first Indian chess grandmaster and former five-time World Chess Champion — for inspiring generations of Indian kids to push chess forward and congratulated India for winning the Chess Olympiad.
While many misinterpreted Nakamura's comment, the GM — currently world rank 3 in the open category — had a point. Despite being the country of origin for the popular game of strategy and tactics, India does not have a well-funded and popular competitive chess culture. It was only after early Indian grandmasters like Viswanathan Anand and Dibyendu Barua performed well internationally that the game began receiving media attention in the country. Hopefully, with more historic wins like this, Indian chess will receive the public attention and funding it deserves.
Learn more about the ancient Indian origins of chess here.
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