Chess Olympiad | Absolute domination by both Indian teams, says Harikrishna

Surreal: Harikrishna poses with the trophy and the medal at the Olympiad.
| Photo Credit: FIDE

Winning a gold in the Chess Olympiad should be treated on par with any gold in Olympics, feels P. Harikrishna, the senior most member of the Indian squad (both men and women put together) which finished with a ‘golden double’ in the just-concluded Chess Olympiad in Hungary.

The 38-year-old Harikrishna, who was the reserve player of the men’s team which won the gold and played in his own way a significant role in the team’s success story as a ‘reserve’, said that Olympiad being the biggest in terms of competition, standard and also the number of countries taking part in it (about 190 countries) always stood as a special and very challenging championship.

“This is the result of efforts over the last one year. In a team event, player communication besides respective strengths plays a major role,” Hari said. “The key to success was to play well as a unit and we showed great team spirit,” Hari informed The Hindu from Prague.

“Ever since I first played in my first Olympiad in 2000, I always dreamt of standing on the medal podium. Glad, it was better late than never when after 24 years I had the chance of being there and that too with the gold.”

“For me, this is the biggest achievement, especially in a team event,” he said. “What stood apart from the rest of the crowd was this Indian team, which was the same which we played in the Asian Games and bagged a silver, didn’t have any weak spot,” Hari said.

“There was absolutely no pressure on anyone. The level of gameplay by the Indians was just of a different kind. And, it was obvious that after six or seven rounds, we could sense a feeling amongst the opponents that they had to be extra cautious. And, perhaps, this led to some of them making a few crucial errors,” Hari explained. “The opponents were not just given any easy chances to come back into the games,” he added.

“It was absolute domination by both the men’s and women’s teams. We have had phenomenal talent. What a fantastic sight it was and should augur well for Indian chess,” Hari said.

On his role as a reserve player, the former World junior champion said that he was glad that he could provide the confidence to the players and a feeling that they could bank on him in case of any exigency.