File image of Gautam Adani and Indian chess team© X (Twitter)
Adani Group chairman, Gautam Adani on Monday extended good wishes to the Indian chess team for their triumph at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest. India displayed a stupendous performance to claim two gold medals in both men's and women's events on Sunday. In the final round of the tournament, India's men team of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna shined over Slovenia to clinch the gold medal. It was the wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi which gave India to a 2-0 lead and confirmed the gold medal.
"What a historic moment for India! Congratulations to both the Men's and Women's teams for clinching GOLD at the 2024 Chess Olympiad! "India is back to dominating the very game of Chaturanga (Chess) that was born on this land. A proud return to our roots!" wrote Gautam Adani on X.
What a historic moment for India! Congratulations to both the Men's and Women's teams for clinching GOLD at the 2024 Chess Olympiad! 🇮🇳 India is back to dominating the very game of Chaturanga (Chess) that was born on this land. A proud return to our roots! #ChessOlympiad… https://t.co/2GICJSeOJM
— Gautam Adani (@gautam_adani) September 23, 2024
Later in the final round, Praggnandhaa also won his game and Vidit ended her bout with a draw. India defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 to seal the gold medal.
Meanwhile, the Indian women's chess team of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev also won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.
Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agrawal won their respective matches in the final round. While, R Vaishali drew her match against Ulviyya Fataliyeva.
According to ESPN, the women's team improved their bronze medal from the Chennai Olympiad in 2022, which was their first.
"India beats Azerbaijan 3,5-0,5! Women's #ChessOlympiad | Round 11 All eyes are on Kazakhstan vs USA. If Kazakhstan prevails, they will tie for first with India. Then everything will be decided in tie-breaks," the International Chess Federation wrote on X.
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 22, 2024????????India beats ????????Azerbaijan 3,5-0,5! Women's #ChessOlympiad | Round 11
All eyes are on ????????Kazakhstan vs ????????USA.
If Kazakhstan prevails, they will tie for first with India. Then everything will be decided in tie-breaks!???? Michał Walusza pic.twitter.com/d4TG3w6c4U
Earlier in the 10th round of the Chess Olympiad, Indian men's team defeated USA by 2.5-1.5.
D Gukesh, India's FIDE Candidates tournament winner, won against Fabiano Caruana by 1-0 to start things off.
Though the prodigious R Praggnanadhaa recorded a rare failure against Wesley So by 0-1, India bounced back in the round with Arjun Erigaisi's 1-0 win against Leinier Perez while Vidit Gujrathi had a 0.5-0.5 draw against Levon Aronian.
Before this, Indian men's team had won eight rounds in a row before their streak came to an end with a draw in ninth round. India sits at the top of the table with 19 match points after 10 rounds.
India's previous best performances in the Chess Olympiad include two bronze medals in 2014 and 2022. In an online Olympiad back in 2020 during COVID-19 though, India shared the gold with Russia.
(With ANI Inputs)
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