The 45th Chess Olympiad Gold Medalist – R. Vaishali, recently spoke to the media team of the Sports Authority Of India. This is what she had to say.
Reflections On Historic Chess Olympiad Gold?
Yeah thank you very much. I’m very very happy to be part of such a historical golden winning team.
It’s such a memorable tournament. Both the sections we won Gold. The Indian men’s team clearly dominated the field. They were tied with four points difference and the women’s team had set back in the tournament but I’m Very happy because we managed to recover from it and as a team we won the tournament. The last two rounds were really crucial for us to win to secure gold. I’m very happy the girls delivered when required.
On Tasting Victory Alongside Brother Praggnanandhaa
Yeah it’s very special for our family. In the previous Olympiad in Chennai, we won bronze. We were really close to winning gold, we missed out in the last few rounds and both myself and PR won one bronze medal. We were on the same Podium. Now I’m very happy we both stood on the same podium in gold medal. It’s truly a special moment for our family.
On Her Mother’s Relentless Support And Dedication
Yeah she (Mother) has been our incredible support for us throughout our journey. She has always been accompanying us to most of the tournaments and it’s not easy for her especially when we have tournaments. Sometimes we have different tournaments. We play different events, both myself and Praggnanandhaa so sometimes she travels with me and the next day immediately she has to travel with Prag (Praggnanandhaa). These traveling are like quite tiring but she never says anything about it . She sacrifices so much so that we can just focus on our game. She makes sure that everything is fine and also thanks to our father. He’s the one managing all the logistics and we are grateful to our parents.
On Learning The Best Life Lessons From Her Mother
All of us work hard and it’s not every day you get the result. I mean sometimes you don’t see the result right away but she (mother) has always pushed us you know to work hard and someday you will see the result yeah. Not to worry so much about it. Our parents mainly see our efforts what we are putting in and they believe that we get the results. I mean the results will come if you work hard, that’s what they have always taught us since the beginning.
On Being The World Grandmaster In 2023 And Future Goals
Yeah it’s a long journey. I’ve been playing chess for the last 15 years. I completed the grandmas title last year. It’s one of my most dreamed moment for me.
I’ve been dreaming of uh becoming Grandmaster Since I started playing chess and definitely one of the highlights of the last year.
Now I’m currently Indian number three and I would like to improve my rating and ranking further and of course to improve my game to become stronger. That’s my goal, not just to focus on the game, to work hard and the results will come and in the next few days I’ll be traveling to London for the Global Chess League. So I’m looking forward to it.
It’s the Global Chess League where players from all over the world come together. It’s like you can call it the IPL. It has contestants from all over the world from different countries like there are Indian players in my team. It’s like six franchise, where they form a team and yeah I’m very happy I’m Ann and S is also playing we both are in the same team so it would be nice to be playing alongside him.
Media Team – Sports Authority Of India
