Advantage India: Quality ecosystem boosts chess, identifies future talent

Success breeds popularity, which, in turn, breeds more success

The double gold win for India at the Budapest Chess Olympiad with 190-odd participating nations is a big achievement. The Open team dominated throughout, winning all but one match (the draw was against Uzbekistan) to effectively clinch gold with a round to spare. The women fought back after a costly loss against Poland to win their last two matches and take gold. The victories can be attributed to great team spirit, strong preparation, and, above all, to an amazing pipeline of talent, buttressed by experience. The big scorers for the Open team were D Gukesh (18) and