Shortly after the Indian Olympiad team was announced, 19-year-old Savitha Shri ’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Judit Polgar. The Hungarian legend wrote – This is your chance.
“We lost to Poland last time too, but still won the gold. If Savitha lost her game too, India would have lost the match and been out of medal contention. We were both in good form. “At that point, it was a tough call, and I too thought it was right for Vantika to play. Of course, now it’s pretty clear that I should have played that match. I was in great form. Who knows… anything could have happened.
After four wins in a row, Savitha was rested for the Round 5 match against Poland, which India went on to lose, the only one that the team lost in the entire tournament. Both Vantika and I were on 3/3 when she was rested, and I played the fourth round instead. Also, most of my opponents until then were not too strong,” says Savitha, who went on to score 7/7. She blundered a pawn in an equal position but went on to fight back and win against WGM Zhai Mo, taking India to a 2-2 draw against eventual champions, China, heading into the final round.
Savitha gained 23 Elo points from this Olympiad and is now 2405 in the live ratings which moves her move up to world No 41 in the women’s rankings. What weighed most on her mind when she was picked, was the player she was replacing – grandmaster Harika Dronavalli, a veteran of 10 Olympiads, who was part of the 2024 gold-medal winning team as well. Because there were other teams too, i was not sure if we would win a bronze if the team drew. Because i had gone being from a pawn down to a pawn up, though the engine says it’s equal, from a human perspective it would have been mentally hard for my opponent.
On most days, she was the last one standing, with the team’s fortunes pivoting on her game. Of course, it was also huge pressure. Most rounds, it was my games that went on after everyone else’s. Almost every day I was playing for five-six hours, so, it was very tiring as well. I’m happy I could help the team win bronze. That’s what’s important. She was objectively worse with Black but managed to equalise. “I was suffering from the position I had. But I had hope, since I had been defending well throughout the tournament. Once the Kazakh team drew, I started thinking that if I win and we win the match, we will win silver. I was a pawn up in a rook bishop endgame and I remember Humpy akka saying that she saw I was worse in the middlegame only to come back and find me a pawn up. “My team was surprised and happy that I had defended the game but I was mad at myself for not pushing. But I controlled my emotions. Once our captain, Swayams (Mishra), shook my hand, I couldn’t control it anymore. Savitha plans to play the World Junior Championship that month While Gukesh has a world title to defend in November. She has GM norms to chase and rating climbs to focus on. Harika, mother to a young daughter, chose to sit this Olympiad out, presumably to make way for young names like Savitha.
During the final round against Georgia, Savitha was “mad” at herself. “Getting the grandmaster title is one of my goals right now,” she says. Speaking to HT in an interview on Tuesday, Savitha said: “Throughout the tournament, I managed to swindle my opponents.
