Chess Olympiad gold medalist Vantika recalls being felicitated as 9-year-old by then Gujarat CM Modi

New Delhi: India's Chess Olympiads gold medallist met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. For woman grandmaster Vantika Agrawal this occasion was special as it was PM Modi who as CM of Gujarat who had motivated her by felicitating her when she had won the Asian under-nine Championship Gold as a young girl.

Vantika opened up on being felicitated for her two medals she won at Asian under-nine championships by the Prime Minister and how it motivated her to win more accolades for India and become more passionate about the sport. She also talked about the surprise she felt on realising that the Prime Minister knew about her birthday coming on Saturday.

"When you encouraged me. I felt really motivated and happy. I decided to give my everything to chess and win more medals for India. I had won two Asian Championships golds and PM Modi had felicitated me (when he was the CM). He also knew that my birthday is on September 28th. I just could not believe it that he remembered it," said Vantika.

Vantika gifted PM a picture of her being felicitated by him as a kid for her Asian Championships gold in Gujarat.

Speaking during the interaction, PM Modi spoke about a massive chess event he hosted during his days as a Gujarat Chief Minister and how his decision of having 20,000 players play was met with wonder.

"I held a chess event in Gujarat when I was the Chief Minister. I had 20,000 players playing chess. Everyone, including the officials, wondered and questioned why I was spending so much money for it, but I wanted to do it. I had prepared a huge pandal for it," said PM Modi.

Harika Dronavalli, one of the players in the gold medal winning women's team, said that the players were so happy on their landmark gold medal that they celebrated in a really grand manner. This also made their opponents really happy for them.

"Every opponent present there came and congratulated us," she added.

Teen chess prodigy and grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who was the part of the men's team, said that the artificial intelligence is helping chess evolve and players are learning from it.

"With AI, the chess is evolving. New technology is coming. The computers have become stronger. It is showing new ideas in chess. We are still learning from it," said Praggnanandhaa.

Even Vidit Gujarathi said that AI tools are used during preparations. Vidit also opened up on how the audience was rooting for India and people had come to watch the game from faraway places.

"Chess' popularity is increasing. There was pressure, but seeing this much support and people rooting for us, it was a great feeling," he added.

Tania Sachdev, the part of the women's gold winning team, said that during the Olympiad held in Chennai, the women's team missed out on gold as they lost to the USA in their last game, and that loss motivated them a lot during their rematch this time around.

"This match we had again was a close one, a draw. We were going to comeback with a gold. There was no second way," she added.

D Gukesh, the winner of the FIDE Candidates tournament and contender for the world championship, said that win was a team effort and every player in the men's team was in great form and motivation.

"In 2022, I lost a game which could have helped us win the gold. It was heartbreaking to us all. From the start, we wanted to win this gold for the team," added Gukesh.

Abhijit Kunte, the former chess player and grandmaster who accompanied the women's team as a coach, said that when he played his first Olympiad in 1998, players and people from India used to run to foreign stars like Garry Kasparov for their autographs.

"But now, people come for autographs of our players. This is all because of PM Modi's vision of making the country number one," he added.

The Indian women's team won gold after beating Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5. Harika, Divya, and Vantika won their respective matches in the final round, while Vaishali drew her game against Ulviyya Fataliyeva.

In the men's competition, the USA secured second place, with Uzbekistan winning bronze. In the women's competition, Kazakhstan claimed the silver medal, and the USA took bronze.

In the final round of the tournament, the Indian men's team comprising D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna defeated Slovenia to clinch the gold medal. Victories from Gukesh and Arjun gave India a 2-0 lead, securing the gold. Praggnanandhaa later won his game, and Vidit drew his, resulting in a 3.5-0.5 win for India.�