Chess Olympiad 2024: Gukesh, Arjun guide India to historic gold medal

India were crowned champions in the open section of Chess Olympiad after D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi clinched win against Slovenia in the final round. India had a near flawless campaign in the tournament.

In Short

• India pip China to win the Chess Olympiad 2024
• India beat Slovenia in the final round of the competition
• D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi clinch crucial wins

Crucial wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi guided India to their maiden Chess Olympiad title on Sunday, September 22. 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.

In the match against Slovenia, Arjun Erigaisi prevailed against Jan Subelj while Gukesh defeated Vladimir Fedoseev. After Arjun's victory, India needed just one point to secure the gold medal, which was grabbed by Gukesh.

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.

This victory marks a significant improvement over India’s performance in the 2022 Olympiad, where they won a bronze medal on home soil. Previously, India also secured a bronze in the 2014 edition of the tournament.

Earlier on Saturday, Gukesh had performed brilliantly against USA in the previous round showcasing his steely nerves against the top-seeded teams and also beating higher-ranked Caruana.

India properly got into the hunt for the gold medal after beating Iran 3.5-0.5 on Friday, September 20. With their eighth victory in as many matches, the Indian men took their tally to 16 points and stretched their lead to a massive two points over nearest rivals, Hungary and Uzbekistan, at the time.

World number four Arjun Erigaisi had started the rampage with black pieces and crashed through the defenses of Beria Daneshvar, who proved no match for the Indian. World Championship challenger D Gukesh then put it across Parham Maghsoodloo with black pieces, swindling the Iranian towards the end of the first time-control. R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Amin Tabatabaei to make sure of an Indian victory, and Vidit Gujrathi added to the team's tally as he outclassed Idani Pouya in all departments of the game to give another huge victory to the team.

For Arjun, this was another step towards the 2800-rating mark as he took his personal tally to a remarkable 7.5 points from eight games. In live ratings, Arjun is now at 2793 points, and if he does cross the 2800 mark, he will be the 16th player in history—and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand—to do so.

Taking a cue from Arjun, Gukesh made sure he kept closing in, and his victory took him to 2785 rating points. This is the first time ever that there are two Indians in the top five of the world rankings.

Arjun created early complications again, going for the reverse Benoni with his black pieces. Daneshvar fell for some tactical tricks in the middle game and could not recover. Gukesh also won with black, and it was another Queen pawn game wherein the Indian chose to play the Dubov variation in the Tarrasch defense. Maghsoodloo went for some unwarranted complications and was caught off-guard as the clock ticked away in the middle game. Soon, the Iranian parted with a piece for a handful of pawns but fell prey to an easy tactical stroke that ended the game. Vidit Gujrathi went for the Sozin variation against the Sicilian defense by Pouya, and his attack was simply overwhelming, while Praggnanandhaa took things easy to ward off any serious counterplay by Tabatabaei.