India makes history in Chess Olympiad 2024 by winning rare double gold
In an unexpected Center Counter defensive match, Erigaise also prevailed over Jan Subeli with black on the third board.
India made history on Sunday by defeating their respective opponents in the last round to secure their first-ever gold medals for both the women’s and men’s teams in the 45th Chess Olympiad. After D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanadhaa each won their individual matches in the eleventh and final round match, the men’s team overcame Slovenia.
The women’s team won the title with a 3.5-0.5 victory over Azerbaijan. The Indian men have previously won two bronze medals in the competition, in 2014 and 2022. In Chennai in 2022, Indian ladies took home a bronze medal. Gukesh, a competitor for the World Championship, and Arjun Erigaise once again excelled in crucial games to aid India in winning its first open championship.
When playing black against Vladimir Fedoseev in the technical portion of the game, Gukesh was at the top of his game against Slovenia. Despite the victory being laboriously achieved, the remarkable strategic show by the eighteen-year-old Grandmaster was right on.
In an unexpected Center Counter defensive match, Erigaise also prevailed over Jan Subeli with black on the third board.
If that wasn’t enough, with one game left, India defeated Slovenia 3-0 thanks to Praggnanadhaa’s incredible victory over Anton Demchenko.
In the end, the guys from India 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.
Then, after defeating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5, the Indian ladies produced a unique double gold performance for the nation.
On the third board, Divya Deshmukh once again defeated her opponent to solidify her solo gold medal, while D Harika demonstrated her exceptional technical skill to strike for the team on the top board.
Vantika Agrawal scored another outstanding victory to seal the win for the Indian team after R Vaishali drew her match.
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