India shatters records by dominating 45th Chess Olympiad 2024, marks the beginning of 'Golden era'
Sunday 22nd September 2024 will always be remembered as the 'Golden day' in the Indian chess history, both literally and figuratively. India defeated Slovenia (Open) and Azerbaijan (Women) with the exact same score 3.5-0.5 to clinch the Gold. India has not only won both Open and Women's events but also the Nona Gaprindashvili Cup for the second consecutive edition. In fact, India only won Gold medals at this event. Apart from winning the team Gold, India won four individual Gold medals - GM D Gukesh on Board #1, GM Arjun Erigaisi on Board #3. In Women's event, IM Divya Deshmukh clinched Gold on Board #3 and IM Vantika Agrawal on Board #4. India scored 21/22 in Open, finishing four points ahead of USA and Uzbekistan. This is the biggest gap between Gold and Silver medal winners since the introduction of match points at 38th Olympiad in 2008. India won Women's event scoring 19/22, finishing a full point ahead of the runner-up - Kazakhstan 18/22. USA finished third 17/22. The 'Golden era' of Indian chess has officially begun. Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza
India claims only Gold medals, clinches Nona Gaprindashvili Cup second consecutive time
The history could not have been made in a better presence. The one who inspired the nation and beyond - GM Vishy Anand, greatest female chess player of all time - Judit Polgar, India's second Grandmaster and Chef de mission - GM Dibyendu Barua, India's fourth GM in history - Abhijit Kunte, also the Captain of India Women's team were present. Anand, Barua and Kunte, all three have played in various Olympiads as each others teammates. They got to witness history unfold firsthand and know that India is going to dominate the top of the chess universe for a really long time. It should also not be forgotten that Pentala Harikrishna played Olympiad with all three of them and this was his eleventh Olympiad as he mentioned in the pre-tournament interview.
India scored 40/44, six points ahead of USA and Armenia 34/44. Overall, Russia has won it six times, China three times, Ukraine and now India twice.
Despite losing to Poland in Round 8 by a minimum margin 2.5-1.5 and a draw against the USA in Round 9, Indian Women made a strong comeback by clinching the Gold and no tie-breaks were needed.
Open: Slovenia - India: 0.5-2.5
GM D Gukesh (2764), GM R Praggnanandhaa (2750) and GM Arjun Erigaisi (2778) scored the wins over GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2692), GM Anton Demchenko (2597) and GM Jan Subelj (2498) respectively. GM Matej Sebenik (2515) held GM Vidit Gujrathi (2720) to a draw. Arjun was the first to score the win of the match. Then Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa followed suit. Vidit's game was the last to finish of the match.
Subelj - Arjun
Everyone was surprised to see Arjun opting for the Center Counter/Scandinavian opening in a game where the team needed a draw to win the Gold. While it is not easy to equalize out of the opening, Arjun somehow managed to do so. In the above rook and few pawns endgame, White made the mistake of giving an unnecessary check 38.Rb7+?? It did not help White's case as Black got to improve his king's position 38...Kf6 and White got nothing out of the check. 39.b4 Rf2 40.Rb6 Rxg2 41.Rxa6 Rxh2 and Black checkmated the white king at the middle of the board in another eight moves.
Fedoseev - Gukesh
Gukesh faced Fedoseev twice in Classical rated games. Both ended in draws. This time, Gukesh is on a different level. White broke the position wide open 20.dxc5 e5 21.cxd5 cxd5 22.c6 Nb6 the exchange of pawns only helped Black to free his knight and open the bishop's path. 23.a3 Ra5 24.Ne1 Rb5 25.Nd3 d4 26.exd4 exd4 27.R3c2 Re8 28.Nf3 Rb3 29.Nfe1 Bb4+ 30.Kf1 Bxe1 31.Nxe1 Bxc2 32.Nxc2 d3 and things fell apart in a hurry for White.
Praggnanandhaa - Demchenko
Demchenko needed to move his king up, out in the open Kd6 and everything would have been fine. Instead, he retreated 44...Kf8?? Praggnanandhaa does not miss these opportunities 45.Be6+- Re4 46.Rh7 b4 47.Rh8+ White won the game in the next few moves.
Women: India - Azerbaijan: 3.5-0.5
GM Harika Dronavalli (2502), IM Divya Deshmukh (2483) and IM Vantika Agrawal (2370) defeated IM Gunay Mammadzada (2433), WGM Govhar Beydullayeva (2395) and IM Khanim Balajayeva (2384) respectively. GM R Vaishali (2498) was held to a draw by IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (2378).
Divya - Govhar
In a battle of two World Junior Girls winners, the reigning champion prevailed over the 2022 winner - Govhar Beydullayeva. Black misjudged the position and played 24...c5? crippling her knight. 25.Ra1 Ra5? a rook trade where Black loses tempo 26.Rxa5 Qxa5 and also allowed 27.e5 is positionally lost. White had no trouble wrapping things up and scoring the first win of the team.
Khanim - Vantika
White blundered a whole rook 34.Qh4?? Vantika obviously spotted it 34...g5 35.Qg3 Nxe4 36.Rxf7+ Kxf7 37.Qe3 Qe5 38.Re2 Nf6 39.Qd3 Qf4 40.Nxe6 Qc1+ 41.Qf5 Rxb3 42.Nxg5+ Qxg5 43.Qxg5 Rxe2 and Black is still winning comfortably. Of course, Black would have preferred to keep the queen on the board but nevertheless, Vantika was never in any real danger and she navigated all threats quite well towards a victory and double Gold medal.
Board prize
D Gukesh won Gold on Board no.1 for his second consecutive Olympiad. He bettered his previous performance of 2867 to 3056 this year which is quite possibly the greatest individual performance in an Olympiad. Gukesh is now World no.5 with a live rating of 2794.1
Board #1 Open
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Team | Rp | Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Gukesh D | 2764 | India | 3056 | 10 | |
| 2 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2766 | Uzbekistan | 2884 | 11 | |
| 3 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2832 | Norway | 2810 | 8 |
Arjun Erigaisi bettered his previous edition's individual Silver to Gold this year with a 2968 performance. He is now World no.3 with a live rating of 2797.2
Board #3 Open
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Team | Rp | Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2778 | India | 2968 | 11 | |
| 2 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2703 | China | 2802 | 10 | |
| 3 | GM | Le Tuan Minh | 2564 | Vietnam | 2795 | 11 |
Divya Deshmukh also improved her previous year's Bronze on Board no.5 to Gold on Board no.3 this year. Her performance improved by a huge margin from 2298 to 2608 and she played all eleven games.
Board #3 Women
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Team | Rp | Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Divya Deshmukh | 2483 | India | 2608 | 11 | |
| 2 | IM | Vega Gutierrez Sabrina | 2374 | Spain | 2505 | 11 | |
| 3 | GM | Danielian Elina | 2393 | Armenia | 2495 | 10 |
Vantika Agrawal did not get an individual medal in 2022. However, she scored her second IM-norm at the 44th edition. This time, she not only won a team Gold, but also an individual Gold medal on Board no.4. Vantika's performance improved from 2439 to 2558 this time.
Board #4 Women
| Board 4 | |||||||
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Team | Rp | Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Vantika Agrawal | 2370 | India | 2558 | 9 | |
| 2 | IM | Lee Alice | 2384 | United States of America | 2471 | 10 | |
| 3 | IM | Sargsyan Anna M. | 2364 | Armenia | 2446 | 10 | |
Photo Gallery
Team India (L to R): GM Sankalp Gupta (second), GM Srinath Narayanan (Captain), GM Pentala Harikrishna, GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM D Gukesh, GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM R Praggnanandhaa and GM Vaibhav Suri (second).
Team India (L to R): GM FT Swayams Mishra (second), GM Arjun Kalyan (second), GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Divya Deshmukh, IM Vantika Agrawal, IM R Vaishali, IM Tania Sachdev and GM Abhijit Kunte (Captain).
Photo Gallery
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Schedule
Everyday round started at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST from 11th to 22nd September 2024. The final round was on 22nd September at 11 a.m. local time, 1:30 p.m. IST. Rest day was on 17th September.
Replay Round 11 Open games
Replay Round 11 Women games
Round 11 Open results
| No. | SNo | FED | Team | Pts. | MP | Res. | : | Res. | MP | Pts. | Team | FED | SNo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | SLO | Slovenia | 29 | 16 | ½ | : | 3½ | 19 | 31½ | India | IND | 2 | ||
| 2 | 13 | ESP | Spain | 26 | 15 | 2 | : | 2 | 15 | 24½ | Hungary *) | HUN | 9 | ||
| 3 | 3 | CHN | China | 26½ | 17 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 15 | 27 | United States of America | USA | 1 | ||
| 4 | 4 | UZB | Uzbekistan | 26½ | 15 | 2½ | : | 1½ | 15 | 26 | France | FRA | 14 | ||
| 5 | 16 | SRB | Serbia | 25½ | 15 | 3½ | : | ½ | 15 | 25½ | Ukraine | UKR | 15 | ||
| 6 | 17 | ARM | Armenia | 25 | 15 | 2½ | : | 1½ | 14 | 24 | Iran | IRI | 10 | ||
| 7 | 24 | BUL | Bulgaria | 25½ | 14 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 14 | 28 | Germany | GER | 7 | ||
| 8 | 32 | GEO | Georgia | 25½ | 14 | 2 | : | 2 | 14 | 24 | Poland | POL | 11 | ||
| 9 | 39 | BRA | Brazil | 24 | 14 | 1 | : | 3 | 14 | 25½ | Azerbaijan | AZE | 12 | ||
| 10 | 18 | ROU | Romania | 24½ | 14 | 2 | : | 2 | 14 | 24 | Moldova | MDA | 34 | ||
| 11 | 41 | KAZ | Kazakhstan | 26 | 14 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 14 | 25 | Turkiye | TUR | 22 | ||
| 12 | 47 | CHI | Chile | 21½ | 14 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 14 | 25 | Greece | GRE | 23 | ||
| 13 | 5 | NED | Netherlands | 24½ | 13 | 2½ | : | 1½ | 13 | 25 | Lithuania | LTU | 29 | ||
| 14 | 28 | ITA | Italy | 24 | 13 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 13 | 24½ | Norway | NOR | 6 | ||
| 15 | 8 | ENG | England | 23½ | 13 | 3 | : | 1 | 13 | 23 | Slovakia | SVK | 43 | ||
| 16 | 66 | FAI | Faroe Islands | 21½ | 13 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 13 | 27 | Czech Republic | CZE | 19 | ||
| 17 | 50 | CAN | Canada | 22 | 13 | 2 | : | 2 | 13 | 25 | Vietnam | VIE | 21 | ||
| 18 | 20 | ISR | Israel | 25 | 12 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 13 | 24 | Turkmenistan | TKM | 73 | ||
| 19 | 25 | HUN | Hungary B | 24 | 12 | 3 | : | 1 | 12 | 25½ | Philippines | PHI | 51 | ||
| 20 | 49 | BEL | Belgium | 23 | 12 | ½ | : | 3½ | 12 | 23½ | Croatia | CRO | 27 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | IND | India | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 476,5 | 35 | 156 | |
| 2 | 1 | USA | United States of America | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 395 | 29,5 | 156 | |
| 3 | 4 | UZB | Uzbekistan | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 387 | 29 | 154 | |
| 4 | 3 | CHN | China | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 379,5 | 28 | 161 | |
| 5 | 16 | SRB | Serbia | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 360,5 | 29 | 151 | |
| 6 | 17 | ARM | Armenia | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 335 | 27,5 | 145 | |
| 7 | 7 | GER | Germany | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 354,5 | 30,5 | 134 | |
| 8 | 12 | AZE | Azerbaijan | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 351 | 28,5 | 145 | |
| 9 | 26 | SLO | Slovenia | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 341,5 | 29,5 | 143 | |
| 10 | 13 | ESP | Spain | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 339 | 28 | 144 |
Round 11 Women results
| No. | SNo | FED | Team | Pts. | MP | Res. | : | Res. | MP | Pts. | Team | FED | SNo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | KAZ | Kazakhstan | 27½ | 17 | 2 | : | 2 | 16 | 28½ | United States of America | USA | 7 | ||
| 2 | 14 | HUN | Hungary *) | 28 | 15 | ½ | : | 3½ | 15 | 29 | Spain | ESP | 9 | ||
| 3 | 1 | IND | India | 27½ | 17 | 3½ | : | ½ | 15 | 26 | Azerbaijan | AZE | 6 | ||
| 4 | 3 | POL | Poland | 27 | 16 | ½ | : | 3½ | 15 | 25½ | Georgia | GEO | 2 | ||
| 5 | 11 | ARM | Armenia | 27½ | 15 | 3 | : | 1 | 14 | 26½ | Germany | GER | 8 | ||
| 6 | 4 | CHN | China | 31 | 14 | 3½ | : | ½ | 14 | 28 | Vietnam | VIE | 20 | ||
| 7 | 5 | UKR | Ukraine | 24 | 14 | 3½ | : | ½ | 14 | 26 | Romania | ROU | 22 | ||
| 8 | 24 | ITA | Italy | 23½ | 14 | ½ | : | 3½ | 14 | 25 | Bulgaria | BUL | 12 | ||
| 9 | 16 | TUR | Turkiye | 24 | 14 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 14 | 23½ | Uzbekistan | UZB | 34 | ||
| 10 | 19 | SRB | Serbia | 24 | 14 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 14 | 27 | Argentina | ARG | 26 | ||
| 11 | 30 | AUT | Austria | 22 | 13 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 13 | 24 | France | FRA | 13 | ||
| 12 | 32 | SVK | Slovakia | 23 | 13 | 0 | : | 4 | 13 | 22½ | Netherlands | NED | 17 | ||
| 13 | 18 | MGL | Mongolia | 24 | 13 | 3½ | : | ½ | 13 | 24 | Sweden | SWE | 33 | ||
| 14 | 35 | NOR | Norway | 23½ | 13 | 1½ | : | 2½ | 13 | 24½ | Switzerland | SUI | 21 | ||
| 15 | 39 | PER | Peru | 25 | 13 | ½ | : | 3½ | 13 | 25 | Greece | GRE | 23 | ||
| 16 | 25 | ISR | Israel | 27 | 13 | 4 | : | 0 | 13 | 26½ | Iran | IRI | 37 | ||
| 17 | 27 | CAN | Canada | 24½ | 13 | 3 | : | 1 | 13 | 23½ | Lithuania | LTU | 45 | ||
| 18 | 46 | AUS | Australia | 22½ | 13 | 2 | : | 2 | 12 | 22½ | Slovenia | SLO | 28 | ||
| 19 | 15 | ENG | England | 24½ | 12 | 2½ | : | 1½ | 12 | 25 | Finland | FIN | 50 | ||
| 20 | 49 | HUN | Hungary C | 22½ | 12 | ½ | : | 3½ | 12 | 24½ | Hungary B | HUN | 31 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | IND | India | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 432 | 31 | 159 | |
| 2 | 10 | KAZ | Kazakhstan | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 371 | 29,5 | 150 | |
| 3 | 7 | USA | United States of America | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 418 | 30,5 | 160 | |
| 4 | 9 | ESP | Spain | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 402 | 32,5 | 143 | |
| 5 | 11 | ARM | Armenia | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 391 | 30,5 | 153 | |
| 6 | 2 | GEO | Georgia | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 388 | 29 | 158 | |
| 7 | 4 | CHN | China | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 434 | 34,5 | 148 | |
| 8 | 5 | UKR | Ukraine | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 355,5 | 27,5 | 150 | |
| 9 | 3 | POL | Poland | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 352 | 27,5 | 155 | |
| 10 | 12 | BUL | Bulgaria | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 348,5 | 28,5 | 144 |
Gaprindashvili Cup standings
| Rk. | flag | FED | Team | RankSum | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IND | India | 2 | 40 | 908,5 | 66 | 315 | |
| 2 | USA | United States of America | 5 | 34 | 813 | 60 | 316 | |
| 3 | ARM | Armenia | 11 | 34 | 726 | 58 | 298 | |
| 4 | CHN | China | 11 | 33 | 813,5 | 62,5 | 309 | |
| 5 | ESP | Spain | 14 | 33 | 741 | 60,5 | 287 | |
| 6 | UZB | Uzbekistan | 15 | 33 | 707 | 55 | 303 | |
| 7 | AZE | Azerbaijan | 23 | 31 | 684 | 55 | 299 | |
| 8 | UKR | Ukraine | 24 | 31 | 679 | 53,5 | 302 | |
| 9 | GEO | Georgia | 25 | 32 | 707 | 56,5 | 298 | |
| 10 | GER | Germany | 29 | 30 | 689 | 58 | 280 |
