Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a special gift from chess star Vantika Agarwal during his meeting with the Chess Olympiad 2024 double gold winners. During the meeting, PM Modi recalled that he organised the ‘Swarnim Chess Mahotsav’ as part of his Khel Mahakumbh initiative back in 2010 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. In 2012, he organised ‘Swami Vivekananda Mahila Chess Mahotsav’ in Gandhinagar which was attended by 3,500 women chess players. Vantika also took part in the event and she gifted PM Modi with a picture from that event.

The picture showed PM Modi felicitating Vantika during the event and he expressed his happiness at receiving such a ‘special’ gift.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi observed a game of bullet chess between two members of India’s 45th Chess Olympiad-winning team, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, during a visit by the Indian men’s and women’s chess teams to his residence on Wednesday.

In the recently concluded Chess Olympiad, India’s men’s and women’s teams made history by securing gold medals for the first time in their respective categories, joining the elite ranks of countries to have achieved a double gold in the same edition of the competition.

Following this remarkable achievement, PM Modi met the Indian men’s and women’s chess teams at his residence on Wednesday to celebrate their success at the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Chess Olympiad.

The Prime Minister shared a video on his official social media of Praggnanandhaa and Arjun playing bullet chess, captioning it: “Bullet Chess by two Grandmasters. Incredible! India’s chess future is very bright.”

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.

Meanwhile, the Indian women’s team–featuring Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal, and Tania Sachdev–also 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.

(With ANI inputs)

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