New Delhi, India

On Sunday (Sep 22), the Indian contingent made history as they brought home the laurels with a maiden Open event gold medal wins in men's and women's competitions at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary, Budapest. It started with D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R. Praggnanadhaa winning their respective matches against Slovenia in the 11th and final round. There was more glory for the Indian team as the women's team featuring Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Tania Sachdev and Abhijit Kunte also secured gold win, with Kazakhstan and USA ending second and third, respectively. In the men's category, Uzbekistan and USA ended with silver and bronze, respectively.

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'This is one of the best chess performances in the history of Chess Olympiad'

Elated with Team India's overall run, legendary Viswanathan Anand reacted to the country's performance. The 54-year-old Indian chess grandmaster said while speaking to RevSportz, "Just unbelievable performance by India. The Indian men have dominated this Olympiad in a way that I am struggling to find, a counter-example too, of course, the days of the Soviet Union. But then the gap was so much bigger. Here they are outperforming people in their general rating bracket and comparable strength in multiple tournaments. And that the Indian team, all cylinders are firing."

"You can take Arjun and Gukesh, obviously who have attracted the most attention. But we had a very, very strong plus five. And, we have won every single match except one. I cannot. I think the Soviets might have comparable results, but not against comparable opposition. This is one of the best chess performances in the history of the Chess Olympiad. On top of the huge accomplishment that it is that, India wins its first Chess Olympiad and the result that narrowly escaped us two years ago," he further opined about the men's team after the tournament's conclusion.

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In addition, Anand spoke about the women's team who made the countrymen proud as they secured gold; completing a historic double for India in the Chess Olympiad.

"About the Indian women's team, fantastic resilience. They were doing very well again, leading comfortably. Then they had this one accident, but they didn't allow it to stop them. They kept fighting," Anand added.

Also read: Chess Olympiad: India win historic double gold in men's and women's open events

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PM Narendra Modi also tweeted about India's historic run at the Chess Olympiad. He took to his official X handle, formerly Twitter, and wrote, "Historic win for India as our chess contingent wins the 45th #FIDE Chess Olympiad! India has won the Gold in both open and women’s category at Chess Olympiad! Congratulations to our incredible Men's and Women's Chess Teams. This remarkable achievement marks a new chapter in India's sports trajectory. May this success inspire generations of chess enthusiasts to excel in the game."