Bengaluru : Reigning world champion Gukesh D had lost his game. He walked over to Arjun Erigaisi, broke into a smile and patted him on the back. It was one of those peculiarly wonderful sights the Olympiad produces – a fiercely individual sport briefly becoming a team game.
Arjun’s win with Black on Board 2 against former World Championship challenger Peter Leko was India’s only victory against Hungary in the final round and earned them a 2-2 draw on Sunday. Hosts Uzbekistan, who had cruised through much of the tournament, deservedly took gold after beating Ukraine, while Germany finished third following a 2.5-1.5 win over Netherlands. He ran into Gleb Dudin’s excellent preparation, with the Hungarian building a sizeable advantage within the first 20 moves. He finished with 5.5/10 on Board 2. India, Armenia, USA, Mongolia and Poland all finished on 17 match points after 11 rounds, with India taking third place on superior tiebreaks. Koneru Humpy brought in an early win on Board 1, but after Divya Deshmukh lost and Vantika Agrawal drew, it came down to Savitha.
Had Savitha lost, however, none of that arithmetic would have mattered: India would have been out of medal contention. It was enough to win the defending champions the silver medal in the Open section of the Fide Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. For Uzbekistan, Mukhiddin Madaminov, best known as World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov’s second during the Candidates, was the hero, delivering their only win of the match. Gukesh, playing his last classical game before November’s World Championship match, suffered his first loss of the tournament. Arjun, who had not been in his best touch through the tournament and had missed a win in the penultimate round, made no mistake against Leko. The bronze came down to tiebreaks. She stared at an awful position that needed something close to a miracle to save the game, the match and India’s medal hopes.
Bafflingly, after four wins on the trot, she was rested for Round 5 against Poland – a match India went on to lose. Savitha, who found a place in the team after Olympiad veteran Harika Dronavalli decided not to play, ended up having a terrific tournament.
