Spain had never achieved such a good overall result in 45 Chess Olympiads (biennials) as in this one in Budapest: 4th out of 169 teams in the women’s competition; 10th in the absolute (188) and 5th in the combined. With individual silver medals for Sara Khadem and Sabrina Vega, and bronze for Alan Pichot. India takes gold in both tournaments. And one big question remains: whether the world champion, the Chinese Liren Ding, will be able to recover his health and his best form in two months to defend the title against the Indian Dommaraju Gukesh in Singapore from 20 November.
“Sara Khadem’s additions [de origen iraní] and Alan Pichot [argentino] “The two captains have been decisive. In addition, it is the best performance by Sabrina Vega in an Olympiad and by both teams together. We consider that the choice of both captains has been a great success. We have not failed in the preparation of almost any game,” summarized Ramón Padullés, technical director of the Spanish Chess Federation (FEDA). The two captains are David Martínez (senior team) and Iván Salgado (women), supported by the Spanish delegate, Jordi Magem.
Sara Khadem’s naturalisation via the fastest route (letter of naturalisation) after being received at La Moncloa by Pedro Sánchez has turned Spain into a fearsome team. At Christmas 2022, Khadem competed in the Rapid World Championships in Almaty (Kazakhstan) refusing to play wearing a veil, shortly after the death of Mahsa Amini in a police station in Tehran. The Kazakh government was responsible for her safety until she flew to Madrid while the Spanish embassy processed the request for political asylum.
Khadem, 27, is currently ranked 18th in the world despite inactivity caused by a change of life and motherhood, and a recent failure at a tournament in Tbilisi (Georgia). The general opinion of Spanish coaches is that her talent is enough to place her among the top ten in the world. And she does not deny it: “I am very excited. I have integrated very well into the team, and we have been very close to getting on the podium, with great work from Iván Salgado. On an individual level, I needed a success like this to recover from the disappointment in Tbilisi. We have come without having trained together beforehand. I clearly see that, if we receive more help, this team can do great things.”
Vega shared this emotion: “Right after finishing the last game, my tears contributed to the floods in Budapest. The success is due to all the members of the team, who are very conscious and excited.” The team was completed by Marta García, Ana Matnadze and Mónica Calzetta.
Pichot’s medal also carries an emotional burden, due to the ups and downs of his life in recent years: “My previous Olympiad was in 2018. Then came my problems with the Argentine Federation, the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, my change of flag… in short, many things that come together in this medal after six years without an Olympics. It is true that I have been lucky in some games, but I am also very satisfied with my victory in the last round. Alexei Shirov, David Anton, Paco Vallejo and Jaime Santos completed the team.
Gukesh’s overwhelming performance on board one, with nine points in ten games – his compatriot Erigaisi also shined with ten out of eleven in board three – is the main key to the Indians’ triumph (silver and bronze for the USA and Uzbekistan in the senior group; and for Kazakhstan and the USA in the women’s group). And it contrasts like night and day with the pitiful impression that Ding gives. The author of this chronicle spent three hours straight very close to him during one of the games: very frequent coughing, intermittent shaking, small burps or constantly suppressed coughs. Perhaps these are side effects of some medication, but there is nothing to indicate that in two months he can return to being the person he was crowned champion a year and a half ago. At the Olympiad he has signed seven draws and one defeat, and falls to 21st place in the world.
