Two Team, Three Individual Medals for Americans as India Takes Double Gold at 45th FIDE Olympiad

The 45th FIDE Olympiad concluded on Sunday, September 22 after eleven rounds of matches showcasing the best players of almost 200 countries in each of the Open and Women's events. When all was said and done, India took home the gold in both events, with the Americans defeating China 2½ – 1½ in the Open to claim a silver medal and tying Kazakhstan to earn bronze in the Women's.

This was the Women's team first medal in 16 years, punctuated by an emphatic 10/11 performance on board two from IM Carissa Yip. The well-deserved individual gold paired nicely with IM Alice Lee's individual silver for her board four score of 8/10. Neither Yip nor Lee lost any of their combined 21 games.

In the Open, GM Levon Aronian also earned a silver medal for his undefeated 8/10 score on board four. Read on for highlights from Team USA's final round games and a few overall highlights.

Women Work For Podium Finish

Entering the final round, the Americans only partially controlled their own destiny. A win against Kazakhstan could see them tie for first, unless India won. But, at worst, a win against Kazakhstan would result in a tie for second.

Tokhirjonova (L) and Assaubayeva shake hands on the top board (Photo courtesy Mark Livshitz/FIDE)

For the first few hours, things seemed to be looking very good for the Americans. Yip conjured a strong attack on board two, IM Begim Tokhirjonova had the better end of complications on the top board, and both Krush and Lee seemed capable of holding their slightly worse positions. When Yip converted in style, the excitement was palpable:

Tokhirjonova has been under incredible pressure on board one this entire tournament. She has had to hold a number of draws from tricky positions, and managed to produce some fine wins of her own as well. But against IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, a promising position became increasingly complicated and outside of Tokhirjonova's control. Suddenly, she was on the defensive right before the time control, when Assaubayeva managed to punch through the match-evening blow.

With boards three and four quickly shaking hands after the result on board one, Kazakhstan was officially a half-point ahead of USA in the standings. India's triumphant 3½ – ½ of Azerbaijan clinched the gold, leaving Kazakhstan with clear silver and USA the bronze as the team with the best tiebreaks of the four nations tied with 8½/11 scores.

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

The result earned USA its first medal in a Women's Olympiad in 16 years, thanks in large part to the individual performances of Yip (10/11 on board two, individual gold) and Lee (8/10 on board four, individual silver). This is a result that all the players, not to mention coach GM Melik Khachiyan, can be proud of. Although, if Yip's social media is to be believed, Yip and Lee just viewed their results as another few weeks in the office:

light work no reaction #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/Nq0xWgc3tS
— Carissa Yip (@carissayipchess) September 22, 2024

Silver Lining For Open Team

After a disappointing 2½ – 1½ loss in the penultimate round against India, the Americans' dreams of a comeback gold were officially dashed. A pairing against second-place China provided a nice "silver lining," however, as a win over the Chinese would put USA in a promising position to win a silver medal (barring a Slovenia upset of India).

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

A quick draw between GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Ding Liren and a relatively quick draw between Aronian and GM Bu Xiangzhi on board four meant that the match was going to be determined by GMs Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez (who turned 41 today!).

The birthday boy and the silver medalist (Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE)

With Dominguez's game remaining level, this meant that So could earn the team a silver medal if he could convert his advantage. Indeed, he did exactly this in his trademark patient style

India did indeed quell Slovenia's attempt at an upset, and their 3½ – ½ victory was good for a ridiculous 10½/11 score and clear first. Five teams were tied for second with 8½/11 scores, and USA boasted the best tiebreaks of the bunch, winning the silver ahead of China, who took home the bronze.

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

Aronian also earned an individual silver medal for his fourth-board performance. His undefeated 8/10 score certainly was not without suspense in the early rounds, but ultimately he proved to be the anchor his team needed.

Other Superlatives

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

The story of this Olympiad will surely be the triumphant ascension of both Indian teams. Indeed, on the backs of their strong results, GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh D. are now numbers three and five in the world, respectively. Gukesh and Erigaisi each won individual golds as well, on boards one and three respectively, finishing with 9/10 and 10/11 performances. Ahead of Gukesh's FIDE World Championship match in two months, he is clearly looking like the favorite. Below is one of his finer victories from the event:

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

In the Women's tournament, Indian IMs Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal also earned individual gold medals for their 9½/11 and 7½/9 performances on boards three and four, respectively. That puts India's gold medal count up to six for the event, with both team gold medals and four of the ten individual board gold medals.

Photo courtesy Mark Livshitz/FIDE

China's GM Zhu Jiner still managed to win individual gold on the top board, however. Many of her games took the shape of the one below, where an unrelenting advantage exploded into victory:

In the Open tournament, ages of the participants ranged from 11 to 74, and the range was an even-broader nine to 84 in the Women's event!

Meet the youngest and oldest players at the #ChessOlympiad! ♟

Open section: the most experienced player is Clifford Shaw 🇰🇾 from the Cayman Islands; at 74 years old, he's still proudly representing his country!
Women's section: Pauline Marian Woodward 🇬🇬 from Guernsey; at 84,… pic.twitter.com/8K8hyrPZ2A
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 21, 2024

And
Skye Attieh 🇱🇧 from Lebanon
Ginger Jubitana from the Netherlands Antilles
Arianna Balcombe 🇻🇨 from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines pic.twitter.com/WpJ0sxAb2x
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 21, 2024

Of those five nine-year-old girls, WFM Bodhana Sivanandan certainly earned her deserved share of attention in the press, playing six games for England as the alternate player (winning one and drawing two against strong competition). But Lebanon's third board, Skye Attieh, had easily the best result of any of the under-ten participants, gaining almost 100 rating points for her 5½/10 performance on board three. The knockout blow here is simple, but still very satisfying:

More reporting, photos, and results can be found on FIDE's official news report. Results of votes from the FIDE Congress can be found here. More information, including norm results and board prizes, is available on Chess-Results. The 46th FIDE Olympiad will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2026.