MAHABALIPURAM: One look at R Praggnanandhaa was enough to see he had survived a tough game. The sacred ash on his forehead was missing, the tension, sweat and the long time spent in his chair seemingly erasing it. Sitting next to India B's captain, RB Ramesh, the 16-year-old was hurting. The mood in the media centre was buoyant as the side had dispatched Switzerland 4-0 on Sunday.
They had earned the maximum points possible after three rounds of the Olympiad. Considering the ages of four of the five Grandmasters in the team three 16-year-olds (D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani) and one 18-year-old (Nihal Sarin) they have sort of become the darlings of the Olympiad. That they are also so damn good Magnus Carlsen likes all of them means they could easily walk away with a medal. If the first four rounds of the event is any proof, they are now one of the contenders to become the first Indian team to win gold in an over-the-table Olympiad. A word of caution, though. The contest picks up pace in the second half of the tournament, after the rest day on August 4.
Coming back to Praggnanandhaa's press conference after the third round against Switzerland, his replies were blunt and honest. "My game quality was poor (Sunday)," he had said. "I feel sorry for him (Yannick Pelletier)." Pelletier had run out of time. Thus, his opponent had survived a scare of sorts. But, at some level, this is also the stuff of champions. You can't expect to play 11 flawless rounds in a format as draining as Classical where games can last five hours on back-to-back-back days. You capitalise on your good days while learning to win ugly on your bad days.
On Monday, they kept up their momentum, beating an Italian side that had stunned Norway 3-1 less than 24 hours ago. While Sadhwani and Praggnanandhaa drew their respective games with Francesco Sonis and Lorenzo Lodici, Sarin (vs Luca Moroni Junior) and Gukesh (vs Daniele Vocaturo) beat more seasoned campaigners to maintain their position at the top of the leaderboard (Gukesh's win, with white pieces, is remarkable considering Vocaturo had held Carlsen on Sunday). With the win, Gukesh is the only Indian man to have won all four of his games. Even calling Gukesh as a man is slightly misleading as he's really a boy. What works for the trio is their fearless attitude, they have no baggage, are open to trying new openings and stay fresh for a longer period of time.
In an entertaining press conference on Monday, Adhiban B, the final member of the side, actually spoke on this very topic. He referred to his other teammates as 'kutti pasanga (small boys)'. "We are playing well, that's why teams are scared of us. They see all the kids in our team and are scared, we are also playing well."
Adhiban, rested for the tie against Italy, further elaborated. "They are not scared of anything," he said. "Before the game, we might be scared of what might happen. But they aren't scared of anything. They are ready to face anything, anybody and any openings." Over the last four matches, as a team they have faced a variety of openings. But they have come up with the goods at every turn. Gukesh's game against Vocaturo was a case in point. Till the first 36 moves or so, the Italian was largely untroubled but moving the bishop to f6 in his 19th move, in hindsight, activated Gukesh's endgame. Following that, Gukesh went on the offensive. It was all over shortly afterwards.
India B leads in the Open category (Israel are in second) and Adhiban hopes the two draws on Monday means they will be able to with a bit more freedom going forward. "Yaaro sabham potanga nenekaren (somebody must have cursed us I think," he was firmly tongue-in-cheek when he was asked about losing their first points of the tournament. "This (losing points) was always going to happen. Now that it's happened, we can be a bit more relaxed."
A notice has been served to all the other teams, including the main Indian team, who are in 11th place.