Gold for Gukesh but bronze for India B

"A moment of madness.”

That’s what D Gukesh felt contributed to India B ending up with a bronze medal rather than gold or silver in the open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad on Tuesday. Uzbekistan won gold and Armenia silver as the premier tournament ended with the 11th round of matches.

The 16-year-old from Chennai displayed remarkable candour in summing up his team’s campaign after the 3-1 win over Germany in the 11th and final round, effectively taking the blame for the 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan on Monday. He lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov after an end-game blunder as India B squandered a 2-1 advantage.

Gukesh’s failure to convert his dominant position into a win had reduced him to tears on Monday night. He had to get over the dejection quickly though for the matches on the final day started early. “Immediately after the game, I was completely devastated. I had outplayed my opponent, and then I lost the game. I quickly realised that I have a game in the morning on the final day. If I am going to kill myself, I thought I will do it after the last round. We could have had a great chance of a gold medal if I had won or drawn yesterday’s game,” he told reporters after drawing his final game against Germany's Vincent Keymer.

His regret aside, there are quite a few positives for India B to take from their campaign. They were seeded 11th in the tournament, fielding four teenage debutants in Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani (B Adhiban, 29, was the only experienced player in their ranks). This is India’s second bronze in the open section of the Olympiad, the first one having come in 2014 at Tromso, Norway.

Gukesh also won the individual gold as the best player on the first board while Sarin claimed the corresponding prize on the second board.

While the absence of heavyweights Russia and China was a factor in the final standings, India’s teenagers displayed ability and resolve in plenty. Gukesh was the standout player, finishing with eight wins, two draws and a loss. Asked whether not being rested at any stage played a part in his dip towards the end—none of his teammates played every round—he disagreed.

“I don’t think playing all 11 games affected me. It only helped me because I got into the flow from the start of the event. I scored 8/8, and to rest me would have been quite a bad decision. If someone is in such great form, it is usually better to keep going. Overall, it’s been a very enjoyable event,” he said.

India A finished fourth after a 2-2 draw with United States on Tuesday. Arjun Erigaisi was the lone winner for his team in the final round, crossing a live rating of 2700 after beating Leinier Dominguez. Erigaisi, 18, from Telangana also played all 11 rounds, registering six wins and five draws. He was the second-best player on the third board.

India A women take bronze

For almost an hour after the women’s matches ended, confusion prevailed over who had won the bronze. Ukraine’s gold was sealed, as was Georgia’s silver medal. The battle for the third spot was down to some last-minute calculations between India A and United States. The Americans had just defeated the hosts 3-1, going level on 17 match points. Eventually, the verdict was in India’s favour as they had 396.5 tiebreak points compared to 390 for US.

While this is India’s first medal in the women’s category, the team of Koneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev, Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni was extremely disappointed. It was understandable because they were on top of the points table heading into the final day and looking good for gold.

“Winning a medal is historic, but it was a very bad day for us. We could not play up to the mark. We just lost very badly. I am still feeling that we missed out on gold. This bronze has not even registered in my mind. We were leading completely from the middle phase of the tournament and had outplayed many strong teams,” said Humpy.

Vaishali and Sachdev also won individual bronze medals on the third and fourth boards respectively. “Women’s chess needs to become stronger in India. Vaishali has improved a lot. She has given her best here. Like that, we need many more women players. That’s when we can aim for higher targets as a team,” Humpy said.

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