CHENNAI: Late on Saturday, as dusk fell over Budapest, India’s supremely talented teenagers made the kind of statement the chess world had predicted over the last few years. D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi broke through US’ spine to beat Fabiano Caruana (one of the greatest players of all time in terms of ratings) and Leinier Dominguez Perez, a veteran who has been inside the top-20 for years, respectively.
Divya Deshmukh, still only 18, matched the feats of Gukesh and Erigaisi with a humoungous win for the women’s team against China.
Coming into the tournament, the US side were hotly-tipped as one of India’s fiercest rivals for gold. But this Open team, comprising Gukesh, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna, is something else. They have different ways of winning matches, they can dominate from start to finish, they are resilient in the face of adversity and they can also crank up the heat in a winning position.
Praggnanandhaa may not have had the wins the others have had during the course of the rounds but what he has done is be very solid from Board 2. On Saturday, though, he lost as Wesley So prevailed. But the loss didn’t matter.
The other three boards held their own before Gukesh and Erigaisi started to place their major pieces in dangerous areas. That positional hold started to tell as the engine began to favour them. Caruana battled hard to recover a lost position but threw in the towel. Less than an hour after Caruana lost, Perez knew the game was up.
Going into the final round, the Open team have a clear two point lead over the nearest challenges. So, even if they lose, it’s expected that they will bring home that elusive gold.
It could be twin golds as the women’s team, courtesy Deshmukh’s brilliance and a nerveless display of endgame chops from R Vaishali, beat China 2.5-1.5. Sunday could go down as one of the greatest chess days from an Indian perspective of all time. It’s already been a sensational year and this could be another significant milestone.