Top performers
Pia Cramling (Sweden, board one, gold medal): At a time when medallists in chess are becoming younger and younger, Pia set a new record. The 59-year old legend from Sweden won her third individual gold medal 44 years after making her Olympiad debut. She scored 9.5 points from 11 rounds but the 34th seed Swede could not finish higher than 40th spot. Pia, the fifth woman to gain the title of the Grandmaster, was ranked No. 1 among women in January 19■4 and she went on to win her first individual gold medal in the Olympiad later that year. Pia added a second gold medal from the 19■■ edition.
Oliwia Kiolbasa (Poland, board three, gold medal):
Even as D. Gukesh caught the attention of the chess world by stretching his winning run to eight games, Oliwia (9.5/11) not only kept pace with the Indian teenager but also did one better. She won the first nine rounds to keep Poland’s medal prospects alive. Though the team struggled to strike much on the top two boards, Oliwia and Maria Malicka (7/9 on the fourth board) provided the cutting edge to the sixth-seeded team. Rated 2376, Oliwia performed at a rating of 2565 despite losing the final round. In fact, it was her victory over Vaishali that gave Poland a 2.5-1.5 verdict over India 1.
R. Vaishali (India 1, board three, bronze medal): “The quality of her play was very high and I have no doubt, very soon she will become a Grandmaster,” is how Humpy described Vaishali’s role for India 1. As a debutant, Vaishali scored 7.5 points from 11 rounds while moving from board three to two, whenever mother-to-be Harika took rest. It was commendable how she dealt with the pressure and for that, a lot of credit is due to her coach R. B. Ramesh. As it turned out, Vaishali and her brother Praggnanandhaa collected a team bronze and an individual bronze each. Truly a unique achievement for these talented siblings.