India Chases Gold in Chess at Asian Games

Chess has triumphantly returned to the Asian Games after a long 13 year absence. The last time chess was included back in 2010, India came away with just a single bronze medal earned by Harika in the individual event. But this year, with 12 medals up for grabs across team and individual events, India is poised to haul in a potential 6 medals including up to 4 golds.
The 19th Asian Games Men’s Team competition is a 9-round Swiss format held from September 29th through October 7th, 2022 in Hangzhou, China. An incredibly talented field filled with super grandmasters is competing, including big names like Wei Yi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Dommanraju Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Players get 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment starting from the first move.
In Monday’s fourth round matches on October 2nd, the Indian Men’s team crushed Kyrgyzstan 3.5-0.5. Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna scored comfortable wins, while only Arjun Erigaisi was held to a draw. This put India’s match point total at 7/8, just one point behind tournament leaders Iran at 8/8.
The Indian Women’s team suffered their first loss to China 1.5-2.5. Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Vantika Agrawal drew their games, but Vaishali fell to former Women’s World Champion Zhongyi Tan.

On Tuesday October 3rd, the Indian Men drew 2-2 against the top ranked Iran team. This leaves India in 2nd place behind Iran. In the Women’s matches, India bounced back with a dominating 4-0 sweep of Mongolia. This win moves India’s Women’s team into 2nd place behind China.

With the brilliant performance so far, India remains well positioned to meet or even exceed medal expectations in Chess at this year’s Asian Games. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams could potentially secure golds, capping off a hugely successful comeback for Indian chess.

Indian Women's Team for Asian Games 2023

  1. Koneru Humpy,
  2. Harika Dronavalli,
  3. Vaishali Rameshbabu,
  4. Vantika Agrawal,
  5. Savitha Shri B.

Indian men's Team for Asian Games 2023

  1. D Gukesh,
  2. Vidit Gujrathi,
  3. Arjun Erigaisi,
  4. P Harikrishna,
  5. R Praggnanandhaa

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