Chess Olympiad: Gukesh and Savitha stand out for India

There was no repeat of the glory of Budapest, but India’s men and women managed to climb the podium nevertheless.

India had arrived in Samarkand as the defending champion in both the open and women’s sections of the Chess Olympiad. In 2024, India had indeed created history with a show that underlined its status as a powerhouse in the mind game.

So the expectations about India retaining both the crowns were high. And the country had players to do the job. Yes, there were concerns about the form of D. Gukesh. But, the World champion opted to play on the fourth board, and not on the first, which he did at Budapest and before that at home in Chennai (Mamallapuram) in 2022.

He was brilliant in both those tournaments and won the individual gold medal, too. He clinched silver this time around, and contributed significantly to his team. A loss in the final round, in the match against Hungary notwithstanding, he showed what he is capable of.

With his World title match against Javokhir Sindarov coming up in a couple of months’ time, he should be in a better frame of mind now than he was before the Olympiad got underway.

Another player from Chennai, B. Savitha Shri, must be feeling even better. She won individual gold as the reserve player and remained unbeaten. More importantly, she struck for the women’s team almost as if on demand. She would either win or at least draw whenever her team needed.

It is no small feat to win eight out of the 10 games at an Olympiad. Savitha has always shown promise. Now she seems to be ready for bigger things. This could be a turning point in her career.

Savitha wasn’t the only member of the Indian women’s team to win an individual medal. Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and the often underrated Vantika Agrawal also excelled on their respective boards. The only one to miss out was R. Vaishali.

Her younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa claimed bronze in the open section. He had the difficult task of playing on the top board. But the Indian team management’s decision to assign him for the games against the strongest players at the Olympiad was hardly surprising. He had been in fantastic form.

But, it wasn’t the perfect Olympiad for him. Just as it wasn’t for India, but that is because the bar keeps rising for Indian chess.