The Gaprindashvili Cup, named after the Georgian former women’s world champion Nona Gaprindashvili, is awarded at the biennial Chess Olympiad to the country with the highest total standings between the open and women’s events. In Chennai in 2022, that honour went to India, who won the bronze medals in both sections.
The 45th Chess Olympiad, which concluded last weekend in Budapest, saw Indian teams surpass themselves, winning gold in both events. Their victory in the open section was all but secured with one round to spare, and featured stratospheric individual performances from Dommaraju Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi (aged 18 and 21 respectively).
Gukesh’s 9/10 score ranks as the second highest tournament performance of all time (behind Caruana’s Sinquefield Cup victory in 2014), while Erigaisi’s 10/11 score (in a slightly weaker field) propels him to third place in the world rankings. Both earned individual gold medals, while in the women’s event Divya Deshmukh (9.5/11) and Vantika Agrawal (7.5/9) earned gold medals as well. Perhaps it was fortunate that India retained the cup, since they made one blunder away from the chessboard; officials at the All India Chess Federation were forced to admit that the trophy has gone missing. Perhaps it will show up before the next event in Tashkent, 2026, though judging by the blossoming of talent in Indian chess, they have every chance of retaining the title once more.
In Budapest, India’s toughest competition came from the USA, which took silver in the open section and bronze in the women’s event. Russia was notable by their absence, since their teams (along with Belarus) were excluded from international chess events following the invasion of Ukraine, as recommended by the International Olympic Committee. A vote at the International Chess Federation (Fide) congress in Budapest firmly rejected a motion to lift those restrictions.
Gukesh’s magnificent performance stood in sharp contrast to that of world champion Ding Liren, whom he will challenge for the title in Singapore in a match starting in late November. Ding appears to be having a psychological crisis since he won the world title in a match against Ian Nepomniachtchi last year, and his dismal performance in Budapest (seven draws and one loss) means that Gukesh is a heavy favourite. Wei Yi substitued for Ding in the China-India match in Budapest, but was ground down by Gukesh in a fiendishly complex endgame.
Knights struggle to restrain rook’s pawns, so Gukesh has staked his hopes on supporting his own passer on the f-file.
Dommaraju Gukesh–Wei Yi
Fide Olympiad, Budapest 2024
71… h3 Missing a narrow path to a draw, but it was unfeasibly complex given that both players were down to a minute or two on the clock. 71…Rd1+! Then 72 Ke2 Rd5! draws, or 72 Kc2 Rf1! (but not 72…Rd5 73 Ng5!). So White’s most dangerous try is 72 Kc4 h3 73 f7 and now Black draws with 73…Rc1+! 74 Kd4 Rf1 75 Ng5 h2 76 Ngf3 Ke7 77 Nxh2 Rf4+ The a4 pawn is lost and the game is drawn, which shows why it was so important to nudge White’s king to d4 earlier in the sequence. 72 f7 Rf1 73 Ng5 h2 74 Ngf3 Ke7 74…Rd1+ was the last chance. After 75 Kc4 h1=Q 76 f8=Q+ there is no forced mate, but White’s winning chances remain excellent. 75 Nxh2 Ra1 76 Nhg4 Ra3+ 77 Kd2! The unique winning move, e.g. 77 Kc2 Rxa4 78 Nh6 Ra2+ and Ra2-f2 draws. Rxa4 78 Nh6 Ra2+ 79 Ke3 Ra3+ 80 Ke4 Black resigns since 80…Ra4+ 81 Kf5 and Ne5-g6+ follows.
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