• India swept both the men’s and women’s gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

• The men’s team of D.Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Harikrishna Pentala, with Srinath Narayanan as the captain, finished ahead of top seeds USA and Uzbekistan.

• During the closing ceremony, the team received the gold medals and the Hamilton-Russell Cup, the original Olympiad trophy created in 1927 and named after its donor, British attorney and chess sponsor Frederick Gustavus Hamilton-Russell.

• Harika Dronavalli, R. Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev, with Abhijit Kunte as the captain, claimed the top honours in the women’s event ahead of Kazakhstan and USA to complete an Indian sweep. 

• In the women’s section, gold medals and the Vera Menchik Cup — a trophy that remains with the winners for two years until the next Olympiad and bears the names of all past champions — were awarded to team India.

• The Gaprindashvili Cup, a special trophy awarded for the best combined result in the Open and Women’s sections, was also claimed by India. It was presented by FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich and Nona Gaprindashvili, the legendary Georgian player, former women’s world champion, and the first woman to become a grandmaster.

• The 45th edition of the Olympiad was held in Budapest from September 10 to 23.

• A total of 197 teams representing 195 national federations participated in the event.

• The Chess Olympiad is held every two years with the previous edition being held in Chennai in 2022.

• The Chess Olympiad was first held unofficially in 1924 in Paris, simultaneously with the Paris Olympics.

• The first official Chess Olympiad was held in London in 1927, organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

• The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II. Since the 1950 Dubrovnik Olympiad, the event has been held every two years.

FIDE

• The International Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs) is the governing body of the sport of chess, and it regulates all international chess competitions. It was founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1999, FIDE was recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a global sporting organisation.

• The UN General Assembly has proclaimed July 20 as World Chess Day to mark the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924.

• FIDE awards several performance-based titles to chess players.

• They are Grandmaster (GM), International Master (IM), FIDE Master (FM), Candidate Master (CM), Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), Woman Candidate Master (WCM).

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