MAMALLAPURAM: It was a historic day for Indian chess as both the men’s and women’s teams won bronze medals in the 44th Chess Olympiad on Tuesday. But there was also a sense of missing out.
While India 2 team, comprising youngsters D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani and B Adhiban, missed their golden chance by losing to Uzbekistan on Monday, the Indian women blew their opportunity to win the gold by losing to US in the 11th round Tuesday, reports Prasad RS. Uzbekistan men finished on top and the girls from Ukraine won gold.
“Winning the medal was historic but we couldn’t play to our potential. This bronze doesn’t feel enough,” India’s No. 1 women’s player Koneru Humpy said. This was the first Olympiad medal for women. In the open section, the young guns of Indian chess won against Germany to assure themselves of a medal.
Teen spirit gets India 2 open team bronze
Eight years after they won their maiden Olympiad medal, a group of talented teenagers have ensured that the rising superpower of the sport has a team on the podium in their own backyard.
The India 2 open team, comprising of the young guns like D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, won the bronze medal in the open category beating Germany on Tuesday. They finished with 18 points after 11 rounds of action, one adrift Uzbekistan (19), who won gold. Armenia too finished on 19, but the mathematical formula devised by FIDE to choose the winner for teams finishing on same points allowed the Uzbeks to take the cake. India 1 missed out on a medal as they drew with USA 2-2 in the final round and finished fourth. The third team from India ended on the 36th spot following their 2-2 result against Kazakhstan.
For the bronze-medal winners, Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani reigned supreme over their opponents — Matthias Bluebaum and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu respectively — on the final day. Nihal won in 55 moves while Raunak needed 47 moves to clinch his 5th win of the tournament. On the other boards, D Gukesh, who had a heartbreaking loss in Round 10, drew his encounter against Vincent Keymer. R Praggnanandhaa too finished his tournament with a draw against Rasmus Svane.
Despite the young guns giving their best shot, India 2 will rue the fact that they failed to better their 2014 Olympiad show despite the absence of powerhouses —Russia and China — in this edition of the tournament. Having said that, India 2 will take heart from the splendid show notched up by Gukesh on the top board. Gukesh was in red-hot form — notching up 9 points (8 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws) from 11 matches. He was followed by Nihal (7.5 points in 10 games), Praggu (6.5 in 9 matches) and Raunak who scored 5.5 in 8 outings. B Adhiban, the senior-most in the team, made 4 points in 6 games. One must also remember that barring Adhiban, the other four in India 2 — Gukesh, Praggu, Raunak and Nihal — were making their debuts in the over-the-board Olympiad.
Coach RB Ramesh sounded happy with the way the team performed. “It’s been a good tournament for us. Our boys fought hard. We were always in the running for a medal and I am happy we finished in the top-3,” Ramesh told TOI.
Medals galore for the young guns: Gukesh won individual gold medal in Board 1. On Board 2, Nihal bagged the coveted yellow metal, while Arjun Erigaisi (silver) and Praggu (bronze) too were rewarded for their consistency on Board 3. Uzbekistan, who defeated Netherlands 2.5-1.5 in the final round to bag the gold, lauded India 2’s fighting spirit. “We had a very difficult match against them. I thought their players Gukesh, Praggu and other youngsters have a terrific future. There is a lot of depth in their ranks,” Jakhongir Vakhidov pointed out.
Uzbekistan had defeated India 2 in the penultimate round on Monday and that result took the gold away from the hosts. Armenia had got the better of Spain 2.5-1.5.
Five Indians currently in the 2700 Elo rating club: Eighteen-year-old Arjun Erigaisi is currently the fifth Indian in 2700 ELO points club – a hallowed mark in chess. He went past the mark on Tuesday’s live FIDE rating after defeating Leiner Dominguez of USA in the 11th round. The other four from India currently in the club are Viswanathan Anand (2756), P Harikrishna (2716), Vidit Gujrati (2710) and Gukesh (2725). Two more Indians — K Sasikiran and Adhiban — were also part of the club, but they have dropped out. India joins a select list of nations like the USA, Russia and China who have five or more players in the list. Russian players, currently playing under the FIDE flag, have 10 players with 2700-plus rating while USA and China have 6 and 5 each.
While India 2 team, comprising youngsters D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani and B Adhiban, missed their golden chance by losing to Uzbekistan on Monday, the Indian women blew their opportunity to win the gold by losing to US in the 11th round Tuesday, reports Prasad RS. Uzbekistan men finished on top and the girls from Ukraine won gold.
“Winning the medal was historic but we couldn’t play to our potential. This bronze doesn’t feel enough,” India’s No. 1 women’s player Koneru Humpy said. This was the first Olympiad medal for women. In the open section, the young guns of Indian chess won against Germany to assure themselves of a medal.
Teen spirit gets India 2 open team bronze
Eight years after they won their maiden Olympiad medal, a group of talented teenagers have ensured that the rising superpower of the sport has a team on the podium in their own backyard.
The India 2 open team, comprising of the young guns like D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, won the bronze medal in the open category beating Germany on Tuesday. They finished with 18 points after 11 rounds of action, one adrift Uzbekistan (19), who won gold. Armenia too finished on 19, but the mathematical formula devised by FIDE to choose the winner for teams finishing on same points allowed the Uzbeks to take the cake. India 1 missed out on a medal as they drew with USA 2-2 in the final round and finished fourth. The third team from India ended on the 36th spot following their 2-2 result against Kazakhstan.
For the bronze-medal winners, Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani reigned supreme over their opponents — Matthias Bluebaum and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu respectively — on the final day. Nihal won in 55 moves while Raunak needed 47 moves to clinch his 5th win of the tournament. On the other boards, D Gukesh, who had a heartbreaking loss in Round 10, drew his encounter against Vincent Keymer. R Praggnanandhaa too finished his tournament with a draw against Rasmus Svane.
Despite the young guns giving their best shot, India 2 will rue the fact that they failed to better their 2014 Olympiad show despite the absence of powerhouses —Russia and China — in this edition of the tournament. Having said that, India 2 will take heart from the splendid show notched up by Gukesh on the top board. Gukesh was in red-hot form — notching up 9 points (8 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws) from 11 matches. He was followed by Nihal (7.5 points in 10 games), Praggu (6.5 in 9 matches) and Raunak who scored 5.5 in 8 outings. B Adhiban, the senior-most in the team, made 4 points in 6 games. One must also remember that barring Adhiban, the other four in India 2 — Gukesh, Praggu, Raunak and Nihal — were making their debuts in the over-the-board Olympiad.
Coach RB Ramesh sounded happy with the way the team performed. “It’s been a good tournament for us. Our boys fought hard. We were always in the running for a medal and I am happy we finished in the top-3,” Ramesh told TOI.
Medals galore for the young guns: Gukesh won individual gold medal in Board 1. On Board 2, Nihal bagged the coveted yellow metal, while Arjun Erigaisi (silver) and Praggu (bronze) too were rewarded for their consistency on Board 3. Uzbekistan, who defeated Netherlands 2.5-1.5 in the final round to bag the gold, lauded India 2’s fighting spirit. “We had a very difficult match against them. I thought their players Gukesh, Praggu and other youngsters have a terrific future. There is a lot of depth in their ranks,” Jakhongir Vakhidov pointed out.
Uzbekistan had defeated India 2 in the penultimate round on Monday and that result took the gold away from the hosts. Armenia had got the better of Spain 2.5-1.5.
Five Indians currently in the 2700 Elo rating club: Eighteen-year-old Arjun Erigaisi is currently the fifth Indian in 2700 ELO points club – a hallowed mark in chess. He went past the mark on Tuesday’s live FIDE rating after defeating Leiner Dominguez of USA in the 11th round. The other four from India currently in the club are Viswanathan Anand (2756), P Harikrishna (2716), Vidit Gujrati (2710) and Gukesh (2725). Two more Indians — K Sasikiran and Adhiban — were also part of the club, but they have dropped out. India joins a select list of nations like the USA, Russia and China who have five or more players in the list. Russian players, currently playing under the FIDE flag, have 10 players with 2700-plus rating while USA and China have 6 and 5 each.
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