’Chess to more people’: Praggnanandhaa on India’s double gold, says ‘very few teams who have…’ after Chess Olympiad 2024

Indian Chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa hailed India’s historic double gold medal win at the recently concluded Chess Olympiad 2024. He noted that the grand win will help popularise the game further.

On September 22, 2024, the Indian Chess team scripted history by clinching maiden gold medals in both men's and women's categories in the 45th Chess Olympiad organised in Hungary's Budapest after beating their respective opponents in the final round.

‘Won both medals at same time…’

Praggnanandhaa noted that 2024 marked the first time that India won in both the Men's and the Women's category at the same time, which could take Chess to more people.

"Both the men's and women's teams won the gold medal. This is a very historic achievement, and there are very few teams who have won both medals at the same time, and we are winning for the first time. This is a very proud moment for all of us. I think this win will take chess to more people," the chess master said, reported ANI.

Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanadhaa, from the Indian Men's team defeated Slovakia by winning their respective matches in the final round. At the same time, the women's team of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev also won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.

‘More experienced, played our best’

Praggnanandhaa reflected on the last Olympiad held in Chennai, where India was close to winning gold but ended up with bronze due to poor performances in the final games. "This time, we were more experienced and managed to leverage that to secure gold. There wasn't any particular technique; we just played our best," he added.

Men's team captain Srinath described the journey as "smooth," highlighting that the team won 10 matches and drew one. "India has won the gold medal at the Olympiad for the first time, and it’s a historic achievement. As captain, I can say that everything went smoothly from the start. It was a complete team effort," Srinath told ANI.

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