The Indian women’s team made history by winning the country’s first-ever medal in the women’s section at the 44th Chess Olympiad on August 9 in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, while the men won their second bronze medal of the prestigious event.
The India A team, which included Koneru Humpy, R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev, Harika Dronavalli, and Bhakti Kulkarni, took bronze in the women’s section after a 1-3 loss to the USA in the final round match.
In the final round, Humpy and Vaishali drew their games while Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni ended up losing their games.
Abhijit Kunte, the India A coach, was all praise for the team saying: “The team has worked really hard in the last three or four months and this is India’s first-ever medal in the history of the Olympics, this should be the beginning of much better days for women’s chess in India.”
In 1957, the first women’s Olympiad was held. Women and open sections have been held together since 1976.
Young India B team won second bronze medal
In the open section, however, the young India B team, which impressed everyone throughout the event with their brilliant performances, handed the country its second bronze medal after thrashing Germany 3-1.
D Gukesh led India B from the start, scoring a fantastic 9/11, while Nihal Sarin chipped in with a fantastic 7.5/10, R Praggnanandhaa scored well with 6.5/9, Raunak Sadhwani scored a valuable 5.5/8, and Adhiban Baskaran secured 4/6 points.
“Overall, it has been a very enjoyable event. I didn’t expect us to perform so well but it could have been better. We could have had a great chance at a gold medal if I had won or drawn my game yesterday (on Monday). But these things happen. Immediately after the game I was devastated and our mentor [Viswanathan] Anand put me in a better frame of mind by saying that these things happen in sport and he too was at the receiving end himself,” said Gukesh, who played all 11 games and tallied 9 points.
It was India’s second bronze medal in the open section of the Olympics, having won it in 2014.
7 Indians won medal
Apart from team medals, individual medals rained down on India, with as many as seven Indians winning medals, including two gold, one silver, and four bronze. Gukesh and Sarin took first and second place on the first and second boards, respectively, while Arjun Erigaisi took silver on the third board. Individual bronze medalists included R Praggnanandhaa (third board), R Vaishali (third board), Tania Sachdev (third board), and Divya Deshmukh (reserve board).
India won the prestigious Gaprindashvili Cup
In addition, India won the prestigious Gaprindashvili Cup. It is awarded to the country for their overall performance in both the open and women’s sections. It was also India’s first time hosting the world’s largest chess tournament.
Uzbekistan and Ukraine won the open and women’s sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad, respectively.
The young Uzbek team, seeded 14th, tied for first place with Armenia, seeded 12th, but won gold on a better tie-break, while Armenia had to settle for silver after both teams scored 19 points. India B finished with a score of 18.
The event produced the most unexpected results, with fancied teams ranked in the top ten failing to win a medal. The country of India A team also performed admirably but was unlucky to finish fourth, missing out on a medal by a hair.
Scores of team A and team B
India A held the United States to a 2-2 tie. Erigaisi triumphed, while Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi were held to draws. SL Narayanan was defeated in his game.
In the women’s section, Ukraine won gold and Georgia took silver after a tie-break, with both scoring 18 points. India A, the United States, and Kazakhstan tied for third place, but India A took bronze.
India B finished eighth with 16 points after being seeded 11th, and India C finished 17th with 15 points.
The Uzbek team was overjoyed to receive a gold medal after their country was awarded the hosting rights for the 2026 Olympic Games at the FIDE Congress.
