The Indian men’s and women’s chess teams made history as they clinched their maiden gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest on Sunday on the back of a dominant showing throughout the event.
D Gukesh’s genius shone through the challenges as the teenage prodigy spearheaded a rampant display for the Indian unit.
“I feel great, especially with the quality of my games and how we played as a team and despite many close misses in the past, we managed to dominantly win this time. I’m just super happy right now,” Gukesh said after the historic win.
The Indian men’s contingent nearly wrapped up the yellow metal with a day to spare, but came out with yet another roaring performance against Serbia on Sunday to put the finishing touches on a memorable campaign.
“Yesterday we were in the team meeting, we were already in the celebration mood. I was super excited but I hoped there would be no game. We forced ourselves to focus and come here, do the job, and then celebrate,” Gukesh revealed.
“I thought even if we lose the match, we still win on tie breaks. We wanted to win the match, of course. We were expecting a win. We were all pretty relaxed. But yeah, glad that me and Arjun got the job done,” the 18-year-old added.
Gukesh managed to win 8 of his 11 outings in the Hungarian Capital City, which proved crucial in India’s golden campaign.
“This tournament for me, especially since what happened last time, we were so close as the team to win goal. This time I thought no matter what I’m going to do, whatever it takes to win the team goal,” Gukesh reflected.
“So I did not really think about the individual performance much. I just wanted the team to win this time,” he added.
“I guess it’s just sticking with the discipline and staying focused on the tournament. And once you get into the rhythm, everything happens automatically. Once I got the first four wins, I thought I’d set myself up for a very great tournament,”
“In this tournament, I wasn’t thinking about the match. Olympiad is one of the most important tournaments of the year and I was just thinking about the event, but it’s nice to see that I’m getting into shape and feeling myself.
“And yeah. Still some time left, so we’ll do some more work and hopefully for the match I’ll be ready.”
“In the Olympiad, I just wanted this, like, a very important one for sure. Not as important as the match, but a very important one for me personally. So I just wanted to give it my all and win this tournament.”
The Indian women took a more scenic route to the top podium spot as they sealed the deal on the final day of the campaign.
Tania Sachdev voiced her amusement with the accomplishment and expressed her pride in the title-winning team.
“I’m so overwhelmed right now. I’m so proud of my team, everything that we’ve done in the open (category and) in the women now when I look back, I think this is the moment that we were meant for this,” Sachdev said.
R Vaishali recalled India’s previous best finish of a bronze medal at the Olympiad and revealed how chuffed she was about improving the colour of the meal in Hungary.
“I still remember last year, we lost in the last round. Honestly, I could not sleep last night, thinking about those things, but I’m very happy that we played as a team,” Grandmaster Vaishali said.
D Harika said she had realised a childhood dream with the triumph and opened up on the challenges the side had to overcome to reach the pinnacle.
“I came into Olympiads as a 13-year-old, 20 years back, with a dream to win an Olympiad medal, and finally, it might happen today!” Harika said.
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride for me during this tournament and I’m glad (that) in crucial games the girls picked up and finally we all came as a team and we won the last game, so that means a lot,” she added.
“We played all the strongest teams here and I think we deserve it,” Harika continued.
Divya Deshmukh, who gave an incredible account of herself at the Olympiad shared her elation with the result with a hint of relief.
“I am just feeling so happy and relieved. Last two days, I was so stressed like what’s going to happen, but knowing that we have won this match with high score, (I’m) feeling really happy,” Divya Deskmukh