Chennai: Flashing radiant smiles after their history-making gold at the Olympiad, members of India’s trailblazing chess teams returned to an enthusiastic welcome from fans, officials and their families here on Tuesday. The quartet of D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, R Vaishali, and men’s team captain Srinath Narayanan landed here early this morning. Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams scripted history on Sunday, winning their maiden gold medals in the Chess Olympiad in Hungary.
Their extraordinary victory reinforced India’s position as a new chess powerhouse. And as was expected, there were loud cheers as the four walked out of the airport. Gukesh, who was instrumental in Indian men’s team dominance in the tournament with an unbeaten run, flashed his individual and team gold medals for the cameras.
The 18-year-old is now gearing up for the world championship clash against China’s Ding Liren in November after becoming the youngest ever challenger to the crown by winning the Candidates Tournament in April. “It’s very special, since both the teams won the gold,” Gukesh told PTI Videos. The brother-sister duo of Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Narayanan reached in the before Gukesh.
All of them were welcomed with garlands, bouquets and traditional stoles as fans scampered to click selfies with them. “I’m very happy that we have won the Olympiad for the first time, we have only won a bronze till now. And we managed to win in both sections so it’s a very specia.
