The Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest witnessed a heartwarming moment when members of the Pakistani chess team posed with the Indian flag during a post-tournament photo session. This unexpected gesture quickly went viral, sparking discussions on how chess can promote peaceful relations between the two neighbours.
The incident, captured in a video that spread widely on social media, occurred after the tournament concluded in Hungary. This isn’t the first instance of sportsmanship crossing borders recently. During the Asian Champions Trophy in hockey, Pakistani players displayed their support for China by waving Chinese flags and wearing Chinese badges after their bronze medal match, even as China faced a narrow defeat against India.
Pakistani Chess Team with the Champions of Chess Olympiad 2024 – Team India!#chess #chessbaseindia #ChessOlympiad2024 #india pic.twitter.com/LHEveDvEOt
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) September 26, 2024
In terms of individual achievements at the Olympiad, Pakistan’s Momin Fayzan earned the Candidate Master (CM) title with an impressive 6.5 points out of 11, while 11-year-old Aayat Asmi claimed the Woman Candidate Master (WCM) title with 5 out of 10 points.
India excelled, with the men’s team, featuring D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanandhaa, finishing at the top with 21 out of 22 points. The women’s team, including D Harika, Tania Sachdev, and R Vaishali, also secured gold after a victory against Azerbaijan.
Gukesh made history, securing his second individual gold medal and leading the men’s team to its first-ever gold at the Olympiad. Gukesh and Arjun won eight and nine games respectively.
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Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals in 2014 and 2022 in the tournament, while the women had bagged a bronze in the 2022 edition held in Chennai.
The story of the domination was such that out of a total 44 games, the Indian team suffered just one loss when Pragganandhaa was defeated by Wesley So of USA in the penultimate round.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)
