BENGALURU: The immediate theme has been one of disappointment, not matching the high of 2024 when both of India's chess Olympiad teams returned with gold as well as the Gaprindashvili Cup, given to the federation with the best combined scores across both disciplines. While India retained that in Samarkand on Sunday night, the teams went to Uzbekistan with a single-point agenda: winning gold.
However, several individual players can be quietly pleased with what they managed to do over the 11 rounds. A look at how the tournament turned out for some of the country's best players and what the future could hold.
Gukesh feeling it again
When world champion D Gukesh was in Chennai before leaving for the Olympiad, he tried to get himself into a positive mindset. He played box cricket, for one. There were other things; things that suggested that he was being a normal 20-year-old and not the hyper-intensive world champion trying to get himself back into form and shape two months before the defence of the world title. At the Olympiad, he showed glimpses of his old self. When he took down Germany's Alexander Donchenko, captain Srinath Narayanan remarked that it 'was like childhood Gukesh'. "In general, he tried to play high-quality, correct chess for most of the tournament," Narayanan told this daily post-tournament. "The exception was the match against Germany, where he had to take some exceptional risks, play dubiously to try to win. He managed to do that and get the win for us, which to me was reminiscent of how he used to play and win as a child. That win was pivotal in helping us win silver."
India, the most consistent elite chess country
Since the pandemic, India's growth story in the game has continued. And the medals in Samarkand are further proof of that. Be it individuals or teams, players are continuing to return with an award or a medal. At the women's Candidates, it was R Vaishali. After that, it was R Praggnanandhaa who won GCT. Last year, Divya Deshmukh won the women's World Cup. In 2024, there were multiple gold medals apart from Gukesh's world title. It's why Narayanan, who has had a ringside view of this development thanks to his involvement either as a mentor, an administrator or team captain, said: "I think it is an amazing achievement. Since Covid and post-Covid era, India has consistently won medals at every major event, beginning with the online Olympiad in 2020. We have definitely been the most consistent team this decade."
Rise of the chess-playing Indian woman
For a very long time, Indian women's players were few and far between. At the elite level, it was just Koneru Humpy and D Harika. That's no longer the case. That four of the five women's players returned with a medal of some sort is further proof of the burgeoning talent. That it was Savitha Shri who won the sole individual gold was further reflective of that. Only 19, this IM breathed pure fire in most of her games. “The future is bright for women’s chess in India,” women’s team captain Swayams Mishra told this daily, post the tournament. One quality of Savitha that Mishra liked a lot was her capacity to play a long game. “She was a complete monster in the fourth hour. Once the games went into that territory, she played very precise chess.”
