When you have World No. 4 Arjun Erigaisi playing Board 3 and winning nine out of 11 games at the Open Chess Olympiad, you know India’s chess juggernaut is cruising. The entertainingly eccentric “Mad Man of chess”, as Magnus Carlsen dubbed him, not only ensured India won the pivotal mic-drop mid-matches at Budapest on the way to its first-ever team gold on a board – it had earlier shared a gold with Russia in an online version of the tournament. Arjun routinely drove fellow GM royalty watching him in the hall to distraction, with his brinkmanship methods, making Indian chess wildly exciting to watch.
The anointed eccentric, R Praggnanandhaa, calmly went about securing Board 2, proving he possesses the wide range to play a holding game or attack adventurously. Gukesh Dommaraju soaked the pressure of the top board; Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna mopped up the stragglers.
India wasn’t just bagging the gold in commanding fashion. This was the unfurling of the full depth India boasts of, which could nudge out both the Chinese and the high-rated Americans, even in the absence of Hikaru Nakamura.
Only the Uzbeks truly resisted, with a defiant draw. But India wasn’t to be denied the gold.
In the women’s category, the disclaimers are in semi-bold print: The entire top bunch of Chinese were not in Budapest, and the next rung of serious “B” teamers finished 10th. But you couldn’t shake off the feeling that India’s gold in the Women’s section, with equal depth, will fire up the individual ambitions of R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal, besides poking D Harika to carry on and aim for the highest peaks that have shown up on the horizon.
The upcoming goals are straightforward: Indian women players have never won the World Championship. And though two of them appeared at the Candidates, they will need to break the Chinese stranglehold on women’s chess and announce their arrival. A team gold is wonderful. But moving forward, the women will need an almighty push to pierce through the Chinese monopoly at the top. The Olympiad win should professionalise the ecosystem and open up purse strings so that lack of funding is no deterrent.
Divya punched above her weight and the Olympiad was truly a breakthrough tournament for her confidence. But it was R Vaishali, soaking up the punches, playing black in seven games, who returned without an individual medal but displayed serious temperament to fortify her resolve.
China holds both chess titles – in Open and Women categories. That goal is what the young Indians will need to pin on their dartboards.
In the Open section, a granular dissecting of this glorious result will immediately highlight the next target for India. Vishwanath Anand has been the reason this talented bunch picked chess, and they owe it to him to regain the World title he lost in 2013. D Gukesh gets the first chance when he takes on Ding Liren this December in Singapore.
Ding has looked in wretched form through the Olympiad. But he had looked down and out against Ian Nepomniachtchi at the last World Championships, and bounced back to claim the title, leaving the Russian scratching his man-bun. Ding wasn’t expected to reveal his cards at the Olympiad and predictably struggled to eke out a single win. But Gukesh will no doubt find a far trickier opponent across the board in Singapore. Beyond the mind games, the teenager will need to be far sturdier in the Classical marathon.
Russia wasn’t at the Olympiad, and the US, despite three 2750 Elo-rated players on their team, never really got into serious contention, having left Nakamura behind. Ding Liren didn’t even play the top board, so China was pulling punches too. At the World Championships, not an inch will be ceded, and that remains the biggest challenge for India and Gukesh in 2024 — dislodging Ding.
In the long run, all three — Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandha – are capable of taking down Magnus Carlsen consistently to truly convince the world that Indians reign supreme. But this will need immense work against a prepared, driven Carlsen and when he’s even slightly nicked or wounded and on the rampage when on the counter.
Perhaps, the most exciting sight for Indians could be in following which of the three, could take down Carlsen, and eventually fight off the other Indians.
The Uzbeks and Turks and a slightly more serious bunch of Americans are expected to come hard at India’s teenage and early 20s brigade in the coming years. Defending the Olympiad golds might not be as straightforward as winning them with a very good team, though the individual World titles will remain the ultimate markers of greatness.
shivani.naik@expressindia.com
