The 45th Chess Olympiad concluded yesterday in Hungary, Budapest, with India clinching gold in both Open and Women’s sections, and winning the prestigious Gaprindashvili Cup (for the best combined results in Open and Women’s events).
Scoring 21 match points, India’s Open team emerged convincing winner of the event. A draw in the last round would be enough for India to claim gold, but they won the match against Slovenia with the score of 3.5-0.5. Playing on the top board for Indian team, Gukesh D scored impressive 9/10 points and emerged as the best individual player on Board 1, while Arjun Erigaisi scored 10/11 points to become the best individual player on Board 3.
As many as five teams tied for silver, scoring 17 match points each: USA, Uzbekistan, China, Serbia and Armenia. Having the best tiebreak criteria, USA won silver, and Uzbekistan claimed bronze medal. China finished fourth, Serbia was in the fifth place as the best-ranked European team, and Armenia finished sixth.
After intense finish in the Women’s tournament, India emerged as the sole winner scoring 19 match points. India was victorious against Azerbaijan in the final round, winning the match with a score of 3.5-0.5. Team of Kazakhstan who had the same score before the final round, drew against USA, and finished the event with silver medal and 18 match points.
Four teams tied for bronze scoring 17 match points each: USA, Spain, Armenia, and Georgia, but USA came third thanks to the best tiebreak criteria, Spain came fourth and emerged as the best-ranked European women’s team, Armenia finished fifth and Georgia was sixth.
The best individual players per boards (Open):
- Board 1 – Gukesh D (India)
- Board 2 – Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Czech Republic)
- Board 3 – Arjun Erigaisi (India)
- Board 4 – Vokhidov Shamsiddin (Uzbekistan)
- Board 5 – Svane Frederik (Germany)
The best individual players per boards (Women):
- Board 1 – GM Zhu Jiner (China)
- Board 2 – IM Carissa Yip (USA)
- Board 3 – IM Divya Deshmukh (India)
- Board 4 – IM Vantika Agrawal (India)
- Board 5 – WFM Kochavi Dana (Israel)
The Closing ceremony of the event took place yesterday evening.
All results and rankings can be found here.
Photos by Mark Livshitz, Michal Walusza and Maria Emelianova