India wins historic gold at Chess Olympiad: Country’s first gold in open category; women’s team beat defending champions China

18-year-old Gukesh Domaraju gave India the lead by defeating world number-2 Caruana Fabiano.

India has won a historic gold medal in the open category of the Chess Olympiad. This is India’s first open category gold in the 97-year history of the Olympiad. In the 10th round, India defeated the US 2.5-1.5. India played a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan in the 9th round. Apart from this, the country won in all the rounds.

In the 10th round of the women’s category, India defeated defending champion China by a margin of 2.5-1.5. India is currently number one in this category. However, India’s final ranking will be decided after the result of Uzbekistan’s match. The 45th Chess Olympiad was held in Budapest, Hungary. The Olympiad will run from 10 to 23 September.

Gukesh and Arjun won the matches in the open category

In the 10th round, India faced USA. R Praggnanandhaa lost against Wesley in the first match. In the second match, Gukesh defeated Caruana Fabiano and levelled the score at 1-1. Vidit Santosh played a draw against Aronian Levon, thus keeping the score tied.

Arjun Irigasi had a match remaining against Dominguez Perez. Arjun maintained the lead for most of the time and won the match at 11:41 pm Indian time. With his win, India defeated USA by a margin of 2.5-1.5.

Arjun ensured gold for India by winning the last match in the open category.

India on top after 10 rounds

In Chess Olympiad, 2 points are awarded for a win and 1 point for a draw. India had won 8 matches in a row and got 16 points just 2 days ago. In the 9th round, the team played a draw with Uzbekistan, due to which the team remained at the first position with 17 points. Now after defeating America, the team has secured the first position with 19 points.

After India, no team would be able to cross 19 points by winning the last round. That is why India won the gold medal as soon as it defeated America. This is India’s first gold medal in the open category in the history of Chess Olympiad.

India reached number one in the women’s category

In the women’s category, after 9 rounds, India was at the second position with 15 points. Kazakhstan was at the first position with 16 points. In the 10th round, India defeated China by a margin of 2.5-1.5. With this, the team reached the top with 17 points. However, the result of the match between Kazakhstan and Georgia in the women’s group is still pending. Due to this, the winner could not be decided at the moment.

In the women’s category, India defeated defending champion China.

Divya Deshmukh won the only match In the women’s category, the only victory from India was achieved by Divya Deshmukh. She defeated China’s Ni Shikun. Whereas Vantika Agarwal, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Dronavali Harika drew their respective matches. Due to which India defeated China by a margin of 2.5-1.5.