Chess Olympiad 2024: Global Chess Icon Viswanathan Anand Congratulates History-Making Indian Teams

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The Global Chess icon and Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand congratulated the history-making Team India for claiming two gold medals in both men's and women's events in the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest.

India showcased consistent performance throughout the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Chess Olympiad in Budapest to claim their first-ever gold medals in both men's and women's events on Sunday (September 22).

Taking to his official X handle, the Indian great Viswanathan Anand hailed India's women's team. He also hailed Vantika Agrawal and Divya Deshmukh for their performances in the final round.

"Congrats to India's Women's team. Great result by the whole team and captain @chessgmkunte. and a special mention to @DivyaDeshmukh05 and to @vantikachess for her performance," Anand wrote on X.

The Indian women's chess team of Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev also won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5.

Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agrawal won their respective matches in the final round. While, R Vaishali drew her match against Ulviyya Fataliyeva.

While praising the men's team, Anand congratulated them for winning the last round, acknowledging Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi for their impressive results, and also praising Srinath Narayanan for his captaincy.

"Congrats to Team India for winning the last round as well! Sensational @DGukesh and @ArjunErigaisi, but also congrats to @viditchess on an impressive result. Great captaincy by @srinathchess," Anand had posted earlier on X.

Already in the top position heading into the final round of the tournament, India's men team of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna shined over Slovenia to clinch the gold medal.

It was the wins from D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi which gave India to a 2-0 lead and confirmed the gold medal. Later in the final round, Praggnandhaa also won his game and Vidit ended his bout with a draw. India defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 to seal the gold medal.