Bangladesh's chess team has finished outside the top fifty in both the men's and women's categories at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. Despite a valiant effort, the team ultimately concluded the tournament ranked 78th out of 197 teams in the men's open category and 81st out of 183 teams in the women's category.
Meanwhile, India made history by claiming gold medals in both the men's and women's competitions. The Indian teams dominated their opponents throughout the tournament, culminating in decisive victories in the final round. Notably, India's male and female teams are both composed entirely of Grandmasters, a testament to the country's chess prowess.
In the men's final, India's team, led by Grandmasters Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Pragyananda, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujarati, and Pentala Harikrishna, defeated Slovenia by a score of 3.5 to 0.5. In the women's final, India's team, consisting of Grandmasters Harika Dronavalli, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Tanya Sachdev, and Vantika Agarwal, fell to Azerbaijan by the same margin.
India's Rameshbabu Prajnanand and Rameshbabu Vaishali have made history as the first brother and sister to achieve the Grandmaster title. The siblings played a key role in India's success at the Olympiad.
The 46th Chess Olympiad will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2026.
