When the Indian team began their 2024 Chess Olympiad campaign in Budapest, Hungary last month with a 4-0 win over Morocco, they also kick started a post-match ritual on the sidelines. The custom posed some tough questions midway through the tournament, but the team stuck to it.
“Everyday [after the match] we used to come to the room and there was a star awarded to the best player or the best game,” explained Vidit Gujrathi, India’s fourth board player in the open event, in a conversation with Scroll.
As the tournament progressed, coaches and non-playing captain GM Srinath Narayanan realised that it was becoming increasingly difficult to pick the best player or best game from a match. Why so?
Because India were notching up wins at will. The team was performing so well, that India had at least two or three wins in almost every match.
“Then the coaches were in trouble like, ‘who should we award the star to?’” said Gujrathi, who remained unbeaten in Budapest, winning five of his 10 games. “It was a good problem to have. We did not want to break the tradition by giving multiple stars, so we stuck to that.
“So there was a little bit of superstition involved there as well.”
The Indians dominated the contest to win gold in both the open and women’s events of the Olympiad.
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While the likes of Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi flourished under the limelight and emerged as the best players on Boards 1 and 3 respectively, Gujrathi remained ever-so-solid on the lower boards.
Up until the final match he was in contention for the fourth board individual gold as well, before a draw with GM Matej Sebenik of Slovenia saw him miss out.
“It’s a pity that I drew in the last round, otherwise I would have won a gold medal in the individual board as well,” reflected Gujrathi.
However, by then, India were already assured of a historic gold medal with Gukesh and Erigaisi winning their respective games to ensure that the team had at least a match draw secured, which was all that they needed.
“It definitely helped that Gukesh and Arjun were winning [so often],” explained Gujrathi. “So it makes your job easier in the team.
“For example, in the match against USA [penultimate round], my job was to hold Levon Aronian to a draw with the black pieces because he can be the most dangerous of the team and takes a lot of risks,” Gujrathi said. “I am glad I could do it.”
Gujrathi finished unbeaten in the games he played, scoring 7.5 points out of a possible ten.
At 29, Gujrathi was one of the more experienced members within the Indian setup. He formed a safety space for captain Srinath, who used to run his thoughts and strategies with Gujrathi before implementation.
“I was interacting very closely with Srinath in the decision making,” he said. “He used to have his own thoughts and just run it by me once.”
Erigaisi had explained that when he deployed the Scandinavian opening – a risky choice with the black pieces – in the final match against Slovenia, only two people in the team he intended to make the move, Srinath and Gujrathi.
Gujrathi attributes the success in Budapest to the team camaraderie – the informal team meetings, the stars awarded – and the winning start they received in the tournament.
“There was pressure, but we were very chilled out initially,” recalled Gujrathi. “The games we won 4-0, 4-0 [first two rounds] and the fact that we took over our closest competitors in the middle of the tournament and had the sole lead, it gave us a lot of confidence.”
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Having made their Olympiad debut way back in 1956, India’s best show until Budpest was two bronze medal finishes in 2014 and 2022 respectively. The win in September called for celebrations.
“Our walk with the trophy went viral on Instagram,” laughed Gujrathi. “We jumped on the podium for a long time. It is a very sweet memory.
“We had promised ourselves we will play and sing ‘We are the Champions’ by Queen. We did that after coming back [to the hotel].”
Before the 2024 Olympiad started, there were already talks of India being the team to beat. With an average rating of above 2700, this was undoubtedly the strongest-ever Indian team to compete. The players knew it as well.
“We never spoke of it in the team meetings [about being strong contenders],” said Gujrathi. “But people around us told us. So it was present somewhere in the subconscious.
“But that’s what we had to avoid thinking of. Because if you let such thoughts come before the game, you compromise your strength. And what people said, I think we just proved it.
“I think this is indeed the strongest Indian team.”
