Pressure will not be on Gukesh at the World title match: Pia Cramling

At the Chennai Chess Olympiad in 2022, the brightest star was D. Gukesh. He scored eight successive wins on the top board for India-2 on his way to the individual gold medal in the open section.

Former World No. 1 Pia Cramling. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

At the Chennai Chess Olympiad in 2022, the brightest star was D. Gukesh. He scored eight successive wins on the top board for India-2 on his way to the individual gold medal in the open section.

He was just 16 then. The gold medallist on the top board in the women’s event was a little older. Pia Cramling was 59.

She is indeed one of the most durable players on the chess circuit. A former World No. 1, the Swedish Grandmaster was one of the pioneers when it came to women taking on – and beating -- men in international chess. 

She is happy that women’s chess is beginning to get its due. She is one of the players in the women’s section of the Norway Chess tournament that begins at Stavanger on Monday. The event carries the same prize money for both men and women (the only time that happened before in international chess was at the Tata Steel India tournament in Kolkata last year).

“In all my career I have never played a tournament like this and it will encourage the women in chess,” Cramling told Sportstar over the phone from Sweden. “Having equal prize fund is very important and I am happy to play in this tournament, which is a very strong one.”

So what keeps Cramling, ranked 26th in the world, going at 61?

“My passion and I enjoy playing chess,” she said. “I would like to play chess as long as I feel joy and happiness.”

She certainly was happy to win the Olympiad gold in Chennai, where her daughter Anna was her teammate and husband Juan Lopez was the coach. “I wasn’t expecting the gold and I enjoyed the experience as I felt it was the best Olympiad I have ever played,” said Cramling, who has been a regular at the Olympiad since 1978. “The organisation was excellent in Chennai and it was remarkable that they did though they got such a short time.”

Though she was focussed on her own games, she had heard about the incredible winning streak Gukesh was going through in Chennai. He has come a long way since then and will challenge Ding Liren for the World Championship later this year.

“I had played with Gukesh once, at the French League, and that game was drawn,” she said. “In the World title match, I think the pressure will not be on Gukesh but on Ding, who has to defend his crown.”