For the past 7 years, no chess player has received the Arjuna title. Veteran Vishwanathan Anand hopes that after becoming the winner of the Indian team in the Chess Olympiad, now next year any player associated with this sport will receive the National Award. India jointly became the champion on Sunday with Russia. Anand said, "I hope this will lead to all sorts of positive things including the reconsideration in the Sports Ministry of the Arjuna award and the Dronacharya awards for chess. It has been a long time".
It also includes a reconsideration for the Arjuna Award by the Sports Ministry and the Dronacharya title for chess. A long time has passed. Anand himself has also been awarded the Khel Ratna, the highest sports award in the country, besides Arjun. Also, in 2013, Abhijeet Gupta was honoured with the Arjuna Award for the last time in chess. Only two coaches in chess Raghunandan Vasant Gokhale (1986) and Koneru Ashok (2006) have received Dronacharya Award so far.
The five-time winner Anand's hopes of becoming the country's champion shattered when Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh lost their match due to weal internet connection. Anand said, "I didn't anticipate this. I mean clearly the strongest argument in our favour was that this disconnection was not our fault. The rules are clear that if a team loses by disconnection, they forfeit the game. But in this particular case, it was quickly verified that the problem was not at our end. So FIDE had to consider our appeal".
First top-20 finish for Tvesa Malik outside India at Czech Ladies Open