Grandmaster Gukesh, who had eight wins in 11 rounds, told the International Chess Federation (FIDE) after the match, “I am feeling very good, especially the quality of my game and the way we played as a team and despite many close defeats in the past, we managed to win dominantly this time. I am very happy right now.” India's men's team was on the verge of winning the gold medal after beating USA 2.5-1.5 on Saturday. Needing only a draw in the final round, the team beat Slovenia to finish on top.
“Yesterday we were in the team meeting, we were already in a celebratory mood. I was very excited, but I was expecting there to be no game. We forced ourselves to focus and come here, do the job and then celebrate,” Gukesh said. “I thought even if we lose the match, we will win on the tie-break. We definitely wanted to win the match. We were expecting to win. We were all quite relaxed. But yes, glad that Arjun and I got the job done.” The Indian men had earlier won two bronze medals at the tournament – in 2014 and 2022 (held in Chennai).
“This tournament for me, especially after what happened last time, we were very close to the goal of winning as a team. This time I thought that no matter what I do, I have to do anything to win the goal for the team,” Gukesh told Chess24. “So I didn't think much about the individual performance. I just wanted the team to win this time.” Gukesh's impressive performance included a brilliant win over world number three Fabiano Caruana in the crucial match against USA on Saturday.
