India’s Men’s and Women’s Teams Win Gold Medals in the Open Section of the FIDE Chess Olympiad in 2024, Making History in the Process

FIDA Chess Olympiad 2024: On Sunday, in the open section of the 2024 Chess Olympiad, India wrote history by winning its first gold medal.

In the final round, India’s victory was assured when the USA’s Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh secured wins on two boards while second-placed China surrendered points against the Americans.

Erigaisi defeated Jan Subelj, and Grandmaster and World Championship contender Gukesh defeated Vladimir Fedoseev.

In contrast, the women’s team won the title with a 3.5-0.5 victory over Azerbaijan.

India had an incredible run in the competition, beginning with eight victories and ended in a draw with the reigning champion Uzbekistan.

After beating the USA 2.5-1.5 in the tenth round, they moved one step closer to the championship.

India’s two bronze medal victories at the Chess Olympiad in 2014 and 2022 represented their best results to date. But during COVID-19 in 2020, India and Russia shared the gold in an online Olympiad.

In Chennai in 2022, Indian ladies took home a bronze medal.

When the men’s team faced Vladimir Fedoseev in the technical phase of the game with black pieces, Gukesh was at the top of his game.

The eighteen-year-old Grandmaster’s outstanding strategic performance was spot on, despite the triumph being laboriously achieved.

In a stunning Centre counter-defence game, Erigaisi also prevailed against Jan Subeli with black pieces on the third board.

With one game remaining, India secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Slovenia thanks to Praggnanadhaa’s form and smashing victory over Anton Demchenko.

In the end, the Indian men scored an incredible 21 points out of a potential 22. They defeated all of their opponents while giving up just one 2-2 tie to Uzbekistan.

Regarding the men’s team, D Harika excelled technically on the top board, and on the third board, Divya Deshmukh once again defeated her opponent to secure her solo gold medal.

Vantika Agrawal’s outstanding victory sealed the win for the Indian team after Rameshbabu Vaishali drew her match.