Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi was instrumental in helping the Indian team clinch the title in the Open section of the Chess Olympiad held in Budapest. He occupied the position on Board Four and claimed 7.5 points out of 10 games and ended fourth in performance rating. In the match against Nigeria’s team; India was on an unbeaten streak in the Olympiad, and he recorded five wins.
Vidit expressed defeat was out of the equation as India was so superior in the tournament that all other participating countries only cared about the runners up position. ‘Thinking about second place, you (India) are certain that you will be on the top of the podium, the golden medals are theirs, I said to them’ I told them it is not a matter of how, but when this situation comes,’ Vidit said to TOI on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old from Nashik, Maharashtra, claimed that after defeating the United States in the semi-finals, the chances of winning the gold medal for India grew stronger. “The moment we defeated the United States, it became apparent that the gold medal would be ours. And the last match against China was very important, and we did win. I believe that victory really changed the momentum,” he said.
India, apart from the rare clean sweep in both men’s and women’s team events, also bagged four individual gold medals in the Olympics. Commenting on his performance Vidit said, “I played 10 games regularly, so it was quite tiring. If it was a game, I would play for five hours every time since I like long games. By the end of this, I would sometimes be quite tired. Tired.
Vidit traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan to participate in the Ugargashimov Memorial Chess Championship, where he had to defend his title, and then zoomed back to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday. Vidit said, “I landed in Baku and one of my team members informed that our Excellency the Prime Minister Of India wished to congratulate the Indian team. This when I came to know about it, I was very happy and in fact wanted to witness it first hand, Vidit posted on the ‘X’.
He was awarded Grandmaster title in January 2013 making him the 30th Indian to achieve the same and making him the 4th Indian for surpassing Elo rating of 2700. FIDE Candidates Championship after winning the FIDE Swiss Grand Prix.
He was in charge of the Indian squad which won the Online Chess Olympiad in 2020. He has overcome Ian Nepomiachtchi during the disambigation of the 2023 chess world cup. Six, primarily, Nakamura Hikaru was beaten on two occasions.
