What the Indian chess players must do to stay: India’s chess dominance is shown as World No. 4 Arjun Erigaisi, on Board 3, wins nine of his eleven games in the Open Chess Olympiad. In addition to ensuring that India won the crucial mic-drop mid-matches in Budapest to secure its first-ever team gold on a board, the amusingly eccentric “Mad Man of chess,” as Magnus Carlsen dubbed him, also shared a gold medal with Russia in an online version of the competition. With his brinkmanship tactics, Arjun regularly distracted GM royalty who were observing him in the hallway, making Indian chess an extremely thrilling game to witness.
R Praggnanandhaa, the anointed eccentric, quietly proceeded to secure Board 2, demonstrating his ability to play a holding game or launch an audacious attack. The pressure from the top board was absorbed by Gukesh Dommaraju, while P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi cleaned up the leftovers.
India was doing more than simply snatching up the gold in style. This was the whole depth that India claims, a depth that could push beyond the Chinese and the highly regarded Americans even without Hikaru Nakamura.
With their defiant draw, only the Uzbeks really resisted. India, however, was not going to lose the gold.
The disclaimers are printed in semi-bold font in the women’s division: The next rung of serious “B” teamers ended 10th, while the entire top bunch of Chinese were not in Budapest. However, it was impossible to ignore the impression that India’s gold in the women’s division, which was equally deep, would inspire R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agrawal to pursue their own goals in addition to encouraging D Harika to keep going and reach the highest peaks that have appeared in the distance.
What the Indian chess players must do to stay at the top:
The forthcoming objectives are simple: Indian female athletes have never taken home the World Championship. Even if two of them participated in the Candidates, they still need to make an announcement about their arrival in order to end the Chinese monopoly on women’s chess. A gold team is fantastic.
But in order to break through the Chinese stranglehold at the top, the women will require a tremendous drive going forward. The Olympiad victory need to professionalize the system and loosen financial restrictions so that financing is no longer a barrier.
Divya performed quite well, and the Olympiad was a real confidence-boosting event for her. However, R Vaishali, who took a lot of hits and played black in seven games, came back without a single medal but with a serious temperament that strengthened her will.
China is the current Open and Women’s chess champion. The young Indians will have to put that objective on their dartboards.
In the Open portion, a detailed analysis of this outstanding outcome will quickly point out India’s next goal. This gifted group chose chess because of Vishwanath Anand, and they owe it to him to win back the world championship he dropped in 2013. When D Gukesh fights Ding Liren in Singapore this December, he will have his first opportunity.
Ding has had a miserable appearance throughout the Olympiad. However, at the last World Championships, he had defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi handily and then recovered to win the title, leaving the Russian scratching his man-bun. Ding unable to muster a single victory at the Olympiad, as was to be expected given his lack of transparency. However, Gukesh will undoubtedly face a lot more difficult opponent in Singapore overall. The teenager will need to be much more resilient for the Classical marathon, even beyond the psychological tricks.
Russia did not attend the Olympiad, while the United States, who had lost Nakamura, never really gained any traction in the competition even with three players rated 2750 Elo. Since Ding Liren didn’t even play the top board, China was also playing with confidence. Nothing will be given up in the World Championships, and dislodging Ding will still be the largest obstacle facing Gukesh and India in 2024.
Over time, Magnus Carlsen can be routinely defeated by Gukesh, Arjun, and Praggnanandha, proving to the world that Indians are actually superior. However, this will need a great deal of work against a motivated, well-prepared Carlsen, especially when he’s on the attack and even somewhat hurt.
The Indians’ most thrilling spectacle may be watching to see which of the three could defeat Carlsen and ultimately repel the other Indians.
In the upcoming years, India’s adolescent and early 20s demographic is likely to face significant competition from Uzbeks, Turks, and a slightly more serious group of Americans. The World titles will always be the greatest symbols of brilliance, but defending the Olympiad golds may prove more difficult than winning them with a strong squad.
