Chess siblings - Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Rameshbabu Vaishali - led India's teams off to winning start at the 2024 Chess Olympiad as the men's team beat Morocco 4-0, while the women's squad defeated Jamaica 3.5-0-5 on the opening day's play in Budapest.
India, whose second team had won bronze in the open section when India hosted the 2022 Chess Olympiad, have two members from that squad in this set: Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh.
Praggnanandhaa played the top board for India as D. Gukesh, the World Championship challenger, sat out the opening round. Praggnanandhaa, 18, got the better of Mohamed Tissir. India had wins across the boards as Arjun Erigaisi defeated Elbilia Jacques, while Vidit Santosh Gujrathi beat Ouakhir Mehdi Pierre and Harikrishna Pentala got past Moayad Anas. The men have now been drawn alongside Iceland in round 2.
Team India kicked off the Chess Olympiad with an incredible 4/4 victory over Morocco! �� A flawless performance by Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. ��
In the previous Olympiad they took home the bronze! �� Will they exceed... pic.twitter.com/ESPCqXqJKO
- International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 11, 2024
The Indian women's team, who had also finished third in 2022, are the top-ranked team in the women's division. The team consists of three members from that winning team - Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali and Tania Sachdev - but are missing the services of Koneru Humpy.
Vaishali, playing the top board as Harika opted out of the opening round, and capitalised on a mistake from Adani Clarke to begin with a victory. Tania had the cleanest of wins among the Indians as she outwitted Gabriella Watson, while Dhivya [making her debut] earned a hard-fought win over Rachel Miller in the endgame. Vantika, also making her debut, was held to a draw by Raehanna Brown in a queen endgame. India will face Czechia in round 2 on Friday.