Historic! India win first-ever Chess Olympiad GOLD

India on Sunday scripted history in the Chess Olympiad as its men's and women's teams clinched their maiden titles in a rare clean sweep of gold medals after beating their respective opponents in the final round in Budapest.

The Indian men's team defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 while their women counterparts also crushed Azerbaijan with an identical margin in the 11th and final round in the 45th edition of the Chess Olympiad that concluded.

Only China and erstwhile Soviet Union had won both men's and women's gold medals in the same edition of the Chess Olympiad.

Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals -- in 2014 and 2022 -- in the tournament, while the women had bagged a bronze in the 2022 edition held in Chennai.

The 18-year-old World Championship challenger D Gukesh and 21-year-old Arjun Erigaise yet again delivered in key games while R Praggnanandhaa, 19, regained form too in the final round to ensure a smooth victory for India in the open section.

On the fourth board, Vidit Gujrathi, 29, played out an inconsequential draw to give the team another resounding victory.

"I feel great, especially with the quality of my games and how we played as a team," Gukesh said after the team secured the gold.

Chess legend Viswanathan Anand, who has won five World Championships titles, was present at the arena to watch the next generation of Indian players ruling over the world.

Apart from the two gold medals, the Indian players won for more yellow metals for best individual performances on their respective boards.

Gukesh and Erigaise won gold medals on the first and third board in the open section while Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal won gold for their best performances on board three and four respectively in the women's section.

Up against Slovenia, Gukesh was at his very best in the technical phase of the game with black pieces against Vladimir Fedoseev. Though it was a laboured victory, the 18-year-old Grandmaster was spot on with his tremendous strategic display.

Erigaisi also won with black pieces on the third board against Jan Subeli out of a surprising Centre Counter defense game.

If this was not enough, Praggnanadhaa struck form and scored a crushing victory over Anton Demchenko.

The Indian men ended with a tally of 21 points out of a possible 22in all, winning 10 matches and conceding a lone 2-2 draw against last Olympiad winner Uzbekistan.

The story of the domination was such that out of a total 44 games, the Indian team suffered just one loss when Pragganandhaa was beaten by Wesley So of USA in the penultimate round.

However, two of the remaining three musketeers, D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaise and Vidit Gujrathi scored 2.5 points between them to beat the United States.

In the open section, the United States won silver while Uzbekistan took the bronze.

Indian Results: Final Round Open: Vladimir Fedoseev lost to D Gukesh; R Praggnanandhaa beat Anton Demchenko; Jan Subelj lost to Arjun Erigaise; Matej Sebenik drew with Vidit Gujrathi.

Medals: Gold: India; Silver: USA; Bronze: Uzbekistan

Individual medals for personal performance:

Open: Board 1: Gold: D Gukesh (Ind); Silver: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb); Bronze: Magnus Carlsen (Nor).

Board 2: Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze); Tony Lazov (North Macedonia); Ediz Gurel (Tur)

Board 3: Erigaise Arjun (Ind); Yu Yangyi (Chn); Le Tuan Minh (Vie)

Board 4: Shamsiddin Vakhidov (Uzb); Levon Aronian (USA); Alon Pichot (Esp)

Board 5: Frederic Swane (Ger); Gledura Benjamin (Hun); Ivic Velimir (Srb)