Grandmaster D Gukesh endured a heartbreak in the final tie-breaker against Wei Yi of China and had to be content with a joint second place finish at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
'The Indian Open team was extremely well prepared and motivated to win the gold medal.' 'With two players in the world top 10 club, and four players with over 2,700 ELO points (GMs Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, all below 20) and Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna, it was a solid team.'
S L Narayanan, Harsha Bharathakoti, Karthik Venkataraman and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, the other players who had an outside chance of a shot at the title, missed out after drawn games.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
R Praggnanandhaa was the best Indian with an overall third place finish
Apart from a place in the Candidates to be played in April next year in Canada, Vaishali got richer by US$25000 (Over Rs 20 Lakhs) while Vidit took home a whopping prize purse of US$80000 (Over Rs 66 Lakhs).
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
Four draws and two wins on Under-20 boards helped India pull off the victory against the Chinese.
Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh shocked world number 5 Fabiano Caruana as India 'B' pulled off a superb 3-1 win over number 2 seeds USA in the eighth round of the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai on Saturday.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand came into his own with a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the second round after losing to his opponent in the first round.
It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to see massive participation from more than 150 countries.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
In the women's event, India's D Harika drew with Nino Bastiashvili (Georgia) to move up to four points. She is in joint third place with six others.
India 'B' played out a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijan in the 9th round of the open section, while India 'A' and 'C' teams registered identical 3-1 wins in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai, on Sunday.
Sankalp Gupta becomes India's 71st GM.
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
In the Open section, the India 'B' team, which has been in sparkling form, had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan as the in-form D Gukesh lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the reigning world rapid chess champion.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
Indian players experienced mixed fortunes in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament here with two each in the men's and women's sections registering victories.
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
The game incidentally was an old Sicilian where Shirov tried an unconventional ninth move.
R Praggnanandhaa emerged as unconquered king in the World Youth Chess Championship, in Mumbai, claiming the gold in the Under-18 Open category on Saturday.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
India was held to a 3-3 draw by lower-ranked Mongolia in the sixth round as favourites China grabbed the top spot in Pool A in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Saturday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
India and Russia were on Sunday declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection and server malfunction. This was the first time FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad in an online format, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India chess captain Vidit Gujrathi shared a memory of beating the legendary Viswanathan Anand for the first time and termed it as a special moment of his career.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
India are well-placed to pocket a few medals in the World Youth Chess Championship, with Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa all but likely to lead the charge with a gold medal.
It's been seven years since a chess player got the Arjuna award and the iconic Viswanathan Anand is hoping that India's triumphant campaign at the online Chess Olympiad will change this when the national sporting honours are announced next year.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
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