India created history in Budapest by clinch gold in men’s and women’s competitions in the Chess Olympiad on Sunday, September 22.
After the men’s team’s historic victory, the women’s team, comprising of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte secured the gold medal completing a historic double for India in the Chess Olympiad.
In the final round of the competition, India beat Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to keep a strong charge for the gold medal. Harika, Divya and Vantika won their matches against their respective opponents while Vaishali secured a draw. Despite their win against Azerbaijan, India were not assured of the top spot. India’s victory in the women’s open section competition depended on the USA stealing points from Kazakhstan.
India were crowned champions after USA were able to hold their opponent to a 2-2 draw on Sunday. If Kazakhstan had won the match vs the USA, the competition would have been forced to tie-breaks.
Earlier on Friday, International Master Vantika Agrawal delivered when it mattered most as she defeated Grandmaster Irina Krush, helping India secure a 2-2 draw against United States in the ninth round.
The Indian think tank rested an out-of-form Grandmaster D Harika but it did not change the fortunes much on the top board as R Vaishali went down to Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova while Divya Deskhmukh played out an easy draw as black against Carissa Yip.
On the fourth board, Tania Sachdev, who had a position of strength, could not find the best attacking moves to force matters and settled for a draw with Alice Lee. This left Vantika to equalise the score and the youngster played with a lot of heart and commitment to beat her higher-rated opponent as black.
Earlier in the day, crucial wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi guided India to their maiden Chess Olympiad title. Playing in Budapest, India beat Slovenia in the final round of the competition to pip China to the title in the open section. Second-placed China dropped points on two boards against the USA.
The Indian squad enjoyed an impressive run throughout the competition, beginning with eight consecutive wins before being held to a draw by defending champions Uzbekistan. They quickly bounced back, defeating top-seeded USA in the penultimate round, which effectively sealed the title.