India’s ‘strongest team ever’ itching for gold

India’s chess Avengers are assembling in Budapest. Their mission: to win the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad, the most prestigious team competition in the sport. An Indian team had won gold at the Olympiad before: but that was a shared one with Russia at the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad, where there was a different format used. India also has bronze medals from their campaigns in 2014 and 2022.
At the 2022 Olympiad in India, players like D Gukesh left their mark. But the 2024 Olympiad in Hungary’s capital could just be the coming-of-age event on the chessboard that India has been awaiting.
“This is certainly the strongest team India has ever sent to an Olympiad. They have a pretty decent chance of winning the gold, and a fair chance of winning a medal. Although this is the same team that India sent to the 2023 Asian Games (where they won silver), I think everyone has certainly become stronger in the last one year,” Srinath Narayanan, the captain of the Indian team, told The Indian Express.
The Indian team comprises Arjun Erigaisi (21 years old and ranked No.4 in the world with an Elo rating of 2778), followed Gukesh (18 years of age with a ranking of 7 and rating of 2764), R Praggnanandhaa (19 years of age with a world ranking of 12 and rating of 2750), Vidit Gujrathi (29 years of age with a ranking of 24 and rating of 2720), and P Harikrishna (38 years of age with a ranking of 41 and rating of 2686). The team will not feature chess legend Viswanathan Anand, who is currently ranked 11th in the world, but it has enough firepower to get the gold despite his absence.
If India’s D Gukesh manages to beat Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship, he will become the youngest world champion in hory. (Express Photo Partha Paul)
A separate women’s team, which will not feature Koneru Humpy, is also favoured to win a medal.
The Indian men’s team (including the reserve player) has a rating average of 2739, which marks them as one of only three teams at the Olympiad to have an average rating over 2700, the other two teams being USA and China. While China has world champion Ding Liren playing for them, the USA is slightly weakened Hikaru Nakamura not playing. Magnus Carlsen will lead the Norway team.
Indian chess team at Olympiad has problem of plenty
So strong is the Indian team that one of the biggest decisions at the Olympiad could be India’s fixed board order, which decides who would play on which board. The board orders will only be revealed on Wednesday.
“There will be some consideration given to the personal comfort of the player and the particular matches they could have on the boards. In a way, we have surplus options (to decide who plays on the top board). But I also feel you cannot really go too wrong because almost everyone can play on any board. It’s a bit like choosing the Indian cricket team’s spinner in the Test format. You cannot go too wrong,” said Srinath.
So how do players train for a rare national team competition in a largely individualic sport? The Indian team had held a training camp in Kolkata last year under Boris Gelfand before heading to the Asian Games in Hangzhou. This time, Srinath said, there was no necessity for a camp.
“We didn’t have a training camp because more than half the players were playing in events right up to the end. But we would have joint calls online. The team is familiar with each other. Having a training camp was not that important with this team. Everyone’s coming here with excellent practice playing tournaments. We’ll just figure out how to bond with each other and spend time with each other in Budapest, maybe team dinners or gym sessions if players prefer that,” said Srinath.
This could be a watershed year for Indian chess, one that started with Gukesh securing a win at the prestigious Candidates tournament, Praggnanandhaa defeating Carlsen at the Norway Chess tournament for the first time in the classical format, and Erigaisi barging into the world’s top 5 ranking spots. And the year might end with Gukesh becoming the youngest-ever world champion. But a Chess Olympiad gold medal would be the icing on the cake.
“Even if Gukesh does become world champion later this year, an Olympiad gold medal for India is a very special feeling. Everyone’s really highly motivated for this. You can feel it in the way the players have prepared. It means a lot to them. They’re as motivated as they can be (to win gold),” said Srinath.