The Indian campaign at the Chess Olympiad has got off to a robust start. After four rounds, the contingents are topping the charts in the open section and the women’s section as well. Both teams won all four rounds. They are tied on points with other countries, but ahead on tie-break scores.
The likes of Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, D Harika, Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali have played some stunning games. However, this is just the beginning. The most crucial rounds lie ahead, where they will face tougher opponents when the challenge will get stronger. They will have to handle the pressure and be at it, all the time, relentlessly.
“The pressure grows towards the end. They will be facing better teams and also have to handle the pressure now on,” Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda told RevSportz. “It’s been good so far. The men’s team in the open section has dominated opponents. The women’s team has also done well. On paper, they were the favourites and they have transformed it into results when it came to delivering over the board. It’s a very good beginning and yet, just the beginning.”
The team in the open section started as the second seeds. They have lived up to that billing so far. The quintet of Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna (four play in each round) has scored comprehensive wins against Morocco, Iceland, Hungary B and Serbia. Each one of them stood up and delivered.
“This team has the potential to bulldoze any opponent. They are that strong,” said Chanda, who represented India in the Chess Olympiad thrice. He has also been a part of Viswanathan Anand’s team during World Championship duels. “The pressure grows now. They will be up against the stronger teams here on. It will come down to how they handle the pressure.”
The women’s team of D Harika, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal and Tania Sachdev has also lived up to its billing of being the top seeds. They have overcome the challenges posed by Jamaica, Czech Republic, Switzerland and France. It’s been a start befitting of the favourites. Now, it will come down to how they deal with the situation when it comes to the crunch.
“See, all these players are familiar with the pressures of strong tournaments. They have played a number of them,” opined Chanda, who trains Vaishali in the capacity of a coach associated with the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy. “It’s not that they are not used to facing top players at the business end of top tournaments. They are accustomed to it.”
By all practical purposes, the Indian teams have made a great beginning. Bronze medallists in both sections in the previous edition in Chennai in 2022, they have raised hopes of a better finish in the Hungarian capital of Budapest this time. But, as Chanda said, and everybody familiar with sport knows, a start is just a start. It’s about how you finish.
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