Chess Olympiad 2022, Viswanathan Anand Exclusive Column: Take nothing away from India’s bronze

Viswanathan Anand looks back at performances from day 11 of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai.

Published : Aug 09, 2022 21:26 IST

A first bronze from the women’s section is still very special for Indian chess.
A first bronze from the women’s section is still very special for Indian chess. | Photo Credit: FIDE
infoIcon

A first bronze from the women’s section is still very special for Indian chess. | Photo Credit: FIDE

After all the drama of India 2 yesterday, I was hoping that at least the women's team, which had come through relatively unscathed to this point and was leading, would have a good day. But, of all the days to have a bad day was today when you can no longer repair the damage.

Humpy had a very imaginative sacrifice but unfortunately, it seems that the precision required after that was quite high. Tania’s opening just didn’t work out. On top of that, Bhakti played a plan which turned out quite flawed. And so, very soon, we were in very, very big trouble there. Once Ukraine dispatched Poland, in style, the championship left our hands. A first bronze from the women's section is still very special for Indian chess.

I really commend Ramesh and all the players in India 2 to pull themselves together. In fact, I had the chance to meet many of them yesterday evening, and they had kind of taken it on the chin and we're getting ready to play a game today. They deserved the gold but to take the bronze with a commanding last-round victory is commendable.

As for India 1, I would like to single out Arjun’s performance. He played all 11 rounds and his score improved dramatically in the last few rounds with a couple of wins.

I think no one will dispute that Gukesh had the performance of the Olympiad. Eight points from eight rounds is a world record and his gold medal on Board 1 is really a colossal achievement. This was a high-scoring Olympiad where the top boards were scoring heavily. Vaishali’s bronze on Board 3, Tania’s bronze on Board 4, and Divya’s bronze as a reserve are all decent performances. As I said Tania was the lynchpin of the Indian team’s performance while Humpy and Harika were doing steady performances, holding down the top two boards. TanIa was the one scoring very often and Bhakti also contributed some crucial wins and it's very sad that they both lost today.

I'm just so proud of Nihal, as well, for his gold on Board 2. And I think at least these individual golds make up a little bit for the team’s disappointment. As I said before, Arjun also had a phenomenal performance if he didn't win a team medal. I think it takes nothing away from that.

By the way, Arjun and Gukesh both crossed 2700 in live ratings. It’s amazing every one of our guys won something, because Arjun won silver and Praggnanandhaa, a bronze, and that’s just so cool. Honestly, hearing all this makes me feel much better.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment