MAHABALIPURAM: Adhiban B, Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani pulled an all-nighter after the 10th round of the Olympiad on Monday. Sarin kept sending the group motivational quotes on WhatsApp till midnight.
When he finally decided to get some sleep it was 4.00 am, six hours before the last round of games against Germany.
Adhiban, the only member of this team who had won a bronze in a previous over-the-board Olympiad (2014), and Sadhwani played table tennis till midnight.
One of the other members of the group, R Praggnanandhaa, took the decision to avoid social media completely.
The focus was purely on returning with a medal. These were some of the things that this uber-young team did the night before one of the most important mornings of their young adult lives.
Against Germany, their game faces were truly on. There was no hangover of the disappointments of the previous evening.
The two players with black pieces, D Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, drew knowing full well that Sarin and Sadhwani were winning with white pieces.
In the end, it was academic as both of them completed routine wins to help India B to a comfortable 3-1 win.
As soon as they had won that tie, they knew they had won bronze, ahead of more illustrious opponents, US, as well as compatriots, India A.
While this might be a surprise -- India B were seeded 11th for starters -- scratch the surface and it immediately starts to make sense.
Everybody that mattered at the Olympiad held the Indian teenagers in very high regard. Levon Aronian called India the 'future of chess' in part because of the presence of multiple wunderkinds at one time. Even before coming to the Olympiad, world No 1 Magnus Carlsen had said 'India B scares me more than India A'.
It's because of the way they play. They have no previous baggage, they aren't scared to try new things and are well versed in every aspect of the game.
Take for instance, Praggnanandhaa's endgame with a rook and pawn against Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov on Monday.
It's an endgame contained in the '100 Endgames you must know: Vital lessons for every chess player'. It's such a complicated endgame that the author (GM Jesus de la Villa) simply wrote '... the winning sequence is too long to learn by heart'.
Armenia's Gabriel Sargissian, who inspired his country to a silver in the open section, is another who had a twinkle in eyes when speaking about the teenagers.
"I don't want to speak about Gukesh alone," he told this daily. "You guys have Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Nihal, Erigaisi... it's such a lot of talent at one point in time," Sargissian, whose only loss in the Olympiad came at the hands of Gukesh, continued.
For all the undoubted talent, it could still have gone pear-shaped if a few results hadn't gone their way.
This is where Praggnanandhaa's role in the last few rounds helped the team. He himself alluded to it in a conversation with ChessBase India's YouTube channel minutes after the final round.
"I enjoyed playing as a team," he said.
"First half (of the tournament) didn't go well for me. Played some shaky moves, game against Yannick Pelletier (second round, Switzerland) was the toughest. Then I lost to Santos (Jaime Latasa, third round, Spain) without a fight. The rest really helped me as I got two days to rejuvenate."
Post that rest, the 16-year-old came back a different player, winning both his games with white apart from solid draws apart from picking a solid draw with black against US' Wesley So.
On the same channel, Adhiban, who became the first Indian player to win two over-the-board Olympiad medals, threw some light on their preparations against Germany. "Raunak played two amazing games," he said.
"Raunak and I were playing TT till midnight. Our plan was not to sleep the entire night." He also revealed that both Anand and his wife, Aruna, helped out in innumerable ways.
"Whenever we needed, Vishy was always there despite his busy schedule. Aruna was handling the logistics, like the internet. We wanted a faster connection at the hotel (and we got it)."
The early start to the final round may have sent a few players to bed early but not Sadhwani. He was preparing till early morning.
"I stayed up till 4.00 am and did some preparation. The same line of position I had to tackle today (Tuesday) for the win. He was defending well till some point. I had a chance to settle for a draw, but was keen on winning since I played a long game" he explained.
That's the other thing with this team. All of them love playing the game's shortest variation -- bullet (fewer than three minutes per player) -- but they can still play those cagey affairs.
Why is the current crop so good? Ramesh, who has personally seen the developmental curve of Praggnandhaa apart from captaining this bunch of players over the last few months, explains. "If someone gets first rank in 10th, you know you deserve (that) but you are not trying to get first rank in 10th. You are trying to get into the IIT." Considering the competition in chess in India, you have to be great to even have a chance of making a name. "The competition is huge. You must be excellent to even survive," he added.
This is a first step towards excellence. Now the challenge is to do it in individual events and winning a bronze in a tournament where all teams take part.
Sure, winning bronze is good but it must be noted that Russia were banned, China preferred not to turn up while France's top two GMs (both with ELOs above 2750) stayed away.
Erigaisi next Indian to breach 2700
Arjun Erigaisi became the latest Indian teenager to breach the 2700 ELO club. Thanks to his win over US' Leinier Perez Dominguez, the 19-year-old now has 2702.2 points.