In the excitement of India’s annihilation of its rivals at the ongoing cricket World Cup at home, it would have been easy to overlook what was happening at a place called the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea. But we shouldn’t.
For, India recorded one of its greatest moments in chess on November 5, winning both titles at the Grand Swiss tournament. Vidit Gujrathi emerged as the open champion, while R. Vaishali claimed the women’s title; they both thus earned places in the Candidates tournament, the qualifying event for the World Chess championship match.
Because of the qualifying places available— two slots each from either tournament— Grand Swiss attracted the world’s best talents. Gujrathi and Vaishali weren’t among the higher seeds.
