The Indian men's team leapt within touching distance of a historic gold medal at the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024 on Saturday, edging the formidable United States by a 2.5-1.5 margin in Budapest. (More Chess News)
The win means India are in sole lead in the Open section with 19 points after 10 rounds and with just one more round to go, almost assured of fetching the country's first-ever Olympiad gold.
China are two points behind table-toppers India, going into the 11th and final round. India will take on Slovenia, while China will meet the United States. If India win or draw their match, they will win the gold. Even if they lose and China do not win against USA, the title will head India's way.
In case India lose and China beat USA, the two teams will be tied at 19 points and the gold will be decided by way of tie-break. Even in that scenario, India are the overwhelming favourites, and it will take something akin to a miracle for China to upstage the Indian youth brigade. You can learn more about the tie-break rules here.
On Saturday, Grandmaster and World Championship challenger D Gukesh put it across Fabiano Caruana to set the tone.
Slated to play the next World championship match in Singapore in November, Gukesh played another tough game showcasing his steely nerves against the top seeded teams and also beating higher ranked Caruana.
It was a Catalan opening wherein Gukesh got the complications running in his favour in the later stages of the middle game after grabbing a pawn.
Under pressure, Caruana crumbled like a cookie and soon after lost a second pawn to let Gukesh enter a winning endgame.
Earlier, R Praggnanandhaa went down fighting against Wesley So to give the American team an early lead but the Indian men were in no danger anytime as Arjun Erigaisi was always in command against Lenier Dominguez Perez.
Arjun won after over five hours of play, while Vidit Gujrathi played a rock-solid game against Levon Aronian.
While the technicalities remain and the pairings for the next round are still awaited, it seems almost certain that India have won the Olympiad gold for the first time ever, and that too with a round to spare.
(With PTI inputs)
