Indian men and women teams sealed their first-ever gold in the just concluded 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.
The Indian men’s team, spearheaded by the youngest ever challenger to the world title- D Gukesh said, "I am just super happy right now.”
He won his final round game against Slovenia’s Vladimir Fedoseev on Sunday.
The 18-year-old will face China’s Ding Liren in World Championship clash in November.
It was a sensational display by the teenager on the top board for India as he won 9 out of 10 games conceding just a couple of draws besides eight victories.
This phenomenal performance helped the team clinch gold as India scored a dominating 21 points out of a possible 22, winning 10 and drawing just one match against last Olympiad winners Uzbekistan.
"It was a very nice experience for me personally and for the team...this was basically a dream (come true)," Gukesh said.
Another key contributor to the men's success was Arjun Erigaisi, who scored 10 points out of the 11 games in the event he played.
Humble as he is, Erigaisi quickly pointed out that it did not matter too much.
"It's a nice feeling but there are about 10-15 players with similar strength, so I don't want to care too much about being number three or number four," Erigaisi said.
He has been elevated to number three in live world rankings behind Magnus Carlsen of Norway and American Hikaru Nakamura.
With a rating of 2797 currently, Arjun is just three points away of 2800 mark and totally five behind Nakamura. Carlsen, on 2830.
Erigaisi played on board three while Gukesh played on board one, which they said was part of strategy.
"We thought Gukesh would do well on board one and I would do good on board three, because it worked out well, obviously no regrets," he said.
While both Gukesh and Erigaisi won an individual gold for their best performances on board one and three respectively, one player who missed out on personal glory by a whisker was Vidit Gujrathi who scored 7.5 points from his 10 games but could only finish fourth in performance rating on board four.
R Praggnanandhaa's performance might not have been up to his own lofty expectations but he played the perfect anchor especially till the ninth game giving the much-needed stability to the team.
His lone loss against American Wesley So was followed by a final round victory that speaks volumes about the strong character the young man possesses.
Team captain N Srinath was obviously delighted.
"I don't have to give them a lot of advice as these guys are professionals, they know what to do. Basically it was some preparation, bringing them together but mostly just sitting back watching them flow," he said.
As the team returns home on Monday, the real celebrations might have to wait a couple of days but it has proved beyond any doubt that India can now be called the Chess powerhouse of the world.
"Yesterday we were in the team meeting, we were already in the celebrations 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," said Gukesh.
"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."
Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals - in 2014 and 2022 (held in Chennai) - in the showpiece.
"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 said.
"So I did not really think about the individual performance much. I just wanted the team to win this time." Gukesh said.
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