The Young & Restless

With two team bronze and seven individual medals Indian players were impressive at the 44th Chess Olympiad, thanks to young guns like D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa; the women's team also did a commendable job, writes Milind Dhamdhere

- Milind Dhamdhere

Olympic Games are always termed as the most prestigious events in the globe and every player dreams of participating in these games. In a similar fashion, every Chess player dreams of representing his country in the biennial event of the Chess Olympiad. This year's Olympiad was really a good platform for future World champions.

The Chess Olympiad proved to be the most useful event for the host India in terms of organization, media coverage and the performance of our own players. For the first time, India has hosted this prestigious event in Chennai, the home ground of the Chess fraternity. The Indian team bagged a bronze medal in the open category. This is the second medal in the history of these games. In 2014, they won the bronze medal. India won the historical bronze medal in women for the first time an Indian women's team has stood on the victory podium. Along with these medals, Dommaraju Gukesh and Nihal Sarin won gold on top and second board respectively. Arjun Erigaisi secured a silver medal on the third board. The young brigade of R Praggnanandhaa, R. Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Divya Deshmukh claimed individual bronze medals. This is the highest performance by Indian players and that too dominated by youth players.