Chess Olympiad 2024: Gukesh reveals he was prepared to do ‘whatever it took’ to help India win gold in Budapest

Sunday turned out to be one of the greatest days in Indian chess history with the nation winning not one but two gold medals in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.

It was a historic day in the Hungarian capital for Team India as they won gold for the first time ever in the tournament’s history, with their previous best performance being their bronze medal wins in Tromso 2014 and Chennai 2022 respectively.

As It Happened | India win gold in Open and Women’s categories on final day of 45th Chess Olympiad

After India’s historic victory, Grandmaster D Gukesh said his individual performance did not matter as much as getting that elusive gold for the nation and he was prepared to do whatever it took to achieve that feat.

“Since what happened last time—we were so close as the team to win gold—this time I thought no matter what I’m going to do whatever it takes to win the team gold,” Gukesh told Chess24.

“I did not really think about the individual performance much, I just wanted the team to win,” the 18-year-old, who played a key role in India’s triumph in the Open section with eight wins, added.

Gukesh, who is set to challenge Ding Liren for the world title later this year, finished the 45th Chess Olympiad with eight wins in 10 rounds, including against Vladimir Fedoseev on Sunday.

He had secured a crucial victory against world No 3 Fabiano Caruana during India’s 10th-round meeting against USA on Saturday, a win that eventually proved crucial in India’s quest for gold.

Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa had also won their respective 11th-round meetings on Sunday, the former’s win against Jan Subelj confirming gold for India. Vidit Gujrathi ended his campaign with a draw against Matej Sebenik as India defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 in their final round.

India defeated Azerbaijan by a similar margin in the Women’s category as well, with Divya Deshmukh drawing first blood by beating Govhar Beydullayeva and Harika Dronavalli and Vantika Agrawal also winning their respective meetings.

R Vaishali settled for a draw against Ulviyya Fataliyeva as India defeated Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5. However, it wasn’t until Kazakhstan were held to a draw by USA that India’s second gold of the day was confirmed.

“Very happy that we’ve finally won. I still remember how painful it was in the last year when we lost the last round. Honestly I could not sleep last night thinking about those things,” Vaishali told Chess24 following her India’s maiden gold in the Women’s section.

China and Kazakhstan finished second in the Open and Women’s sections respectively,