Chess Olympiad double gold: A revolution is underway in India

During a visit to Kolkata as an ambassador for the Tata Steel Chess tournament last year, the inspirational Vishy Anand likened the awesome assembly line of Indian talent to that of the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1960s and ’70s. It was an observation was not born of mere euphoria, but an objective judgement from a five-time world champion who had been monitoring the growth of the likes of Gukesh D. and Pragg at close quarters.

Now, 2024 has vindicated Anand, with both men's and women’s teams capturing gold medals together on Sunday, 22 September, in Budapest — a feat only belonged Russia and China had pulled off so far.

The Hungarian golden harvest was preceded by an unprecedented five players from India (three men and two women) qualifying for the Candidates in Toronto (scheduled for April 2025) and Gukesh emerging as the champion, and thus the challenger for the FIDE world crown in November.   

What next for the precocious bunch?

The Indian chess fan’s wishlist will be topped by a world title for Gukesh, as he takes on Chinese incumbent Ding Liren in Singapore – he would be the youngest to do so at 18 years. It would certainly seal in style what has already been an extraordinary year for Indian chess.

The most sought-after person for the Indian media on Sunday evening was Anand, however, present at the event as a mentor.

After playing the Pied Piper to Indian chess prodigies for nearly 30 years, the 54-year-old had been refraining from participating himself in the Chess Olympiads twice back-to-back now — the 2022 edition in Chennai and now Budapest. Calling himself a ‘semi-retired’ player, he seems happy to hand over the baton to the next generation — and one can see why.

Breaking down his teams’ performance, Anand was all praise for the domination of the men and the resilience of the women.

‘’Just unbelievable performance by India,” he said. “The Indian men have dominated this Olympiad in a way that I am struggling to find a counter-example... I think the Soviets might have comparable results, but not against comparable opposition. Here they are outperforming people in their general rating bracket and comparable strength in multiple tournaments. And that’s the Indian team — all cylinders are firing.’’

What about the likes of Harika Dronavalli & Co?

Incidentally, it was at the previous edition of the Olympiad in Chennai in 2022 that Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi hogged the limelight, playing hosts that finished with bronze — and showed that the gold medal was very much within striking distance for India.

As in Chennai, so in Budapest, both Russia and Belarus were absent because of the FIDE sanctions due to the Ukraine War — but no amount of 'ifs' and 'buts' can belittle such an achievement.    

As the Indian men‘s and women’s teams went on to become the flavour of the tournament, former women’s world champion Susan Polgar could not stop gushing about the way they conducted themselves.

The team bonding, according to her, was exemplary among the young men — three of them (Gukesh, Pragg and Erigaisi) are 20. She'd watched the trio as they meditated at their tables before settling down to the day’s games.

If there is another unabashed admirer of Indian chess, it’s the normally inscrutable Magnus Carlsen, arguably the most influential world champion after Anand. The Norwegian had sensed a chess revolution brewing here last year when Pragg stormed into the World Cup final.

“Be like Pragg” was his famous suggestion for his teammates in the Global Chess League, as he said: “It’s awesome to see both the interest in chess (from the public and media) and the huge numbers of young Indian players that are taking over the chess scene.

“I think we’re just at the beginning of a chess revolution that started with Viswanathan Anand becoming a grandmaster and eventually winning the world championship. What we’re seeing now, it’s only going to get better.”

Well, what began as a trickle with Anand becoming the first grandmaster from India 36 years back is now turning into a flood.

After Budapest, India is up there among the global superpowers of the game — the ripple effect of which hopefully will be seen for generations to come!