Between parents’ struggles and ‘endless coffees’: How Savitha Shri became India’s only gold medallist at Chess Olympiad | Exclusive | Chess News
NEW DELHI: Savitha Shri Baskar emerged as India’s golden girl at the 2026 Chess Olympiad, but there was a point when her chess career was funded by her father’s gold jewellery, pawned to cover a national tournament’s entry fee.Baskar, an electrician in Singapore at the time, would go on to quit that job entirely and move back to India to support her daughter. It was a decision he still calls difficult.The sacrifice, in fact, wasn’t only his to make. Chess had first entered the family through Savitha’s older brother Mugesh, whom their father had originally set out to build a career around.Savitha’s own interest came from watching him play. But once both children were training together, the costs made running two chess careers impossible. Mugesh stepped back after the eighth standard. Savitha kept going.This time, she went to Samarkand as the youngest member of the Indian contingent, brought in after Harika Dronavalli, who felt she’d achieved everything a chess career could offer, including a gold, stepped aside for the next generation.Even then, there were questions about the 19-year-old International Master’s spot in the squad. “There were a lot of people who questioned her spot, journalists saying there are players higher than her, and so on,” women’s captain Swayams Mishra had earlier told TimesofIndia.com.“But according to the selection, she was qualified, and she’d won the Asian continental a couple of months ago. She’d also played the World Women’s Team Championship, so I knew her as a team player always. Whenever we gave her the opportunity, she delivered. If India won a medal, we owe it to her.”
Swayams Mishra with Savitha Shri at Samarkand Olympiad (FIDE Photo)
Savitha delivered in some style, becoming the only Indian to win an individual gold medal in Uzbekistan, finishing an extraordinary 9/10, and a central figure in India’s bronze-medal campaign.
A reserve who ended up playing almost every round
“Coming to the team as a reserve player, I wasn’t even expecting to play all 10 rounds,” she told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction. “So I’m grateful for the trust my teammates and my captain had in me, for giving me the opportunity to play all 10. I’m happy with the score, 9 out of 10; but game-wise, I think I could have done a bit better.”Around her sat some of the biggest names in Indian women’s chess. Looking back at her first experience of the Olympiad, she continued, “It was my first Olympiad, and it has always been a dream for me to play for the country in a tournament like this. We had Humpy (Koneru) akka, who’s been the top-most player in women’s chess for almost two decades, and we had Vaishali akka and Divya Deshmukh; such a strong team, and we were the first seed in the women’s section. I learned a lot from all of them, and Abhijit sir and Swayams sir did a wonderful job with our openings and in every other aspect too. It was a wonderful experience.”
Savitha wins an individual gold on Board 5 at Women’s Chess Olympiad (Photo by Michal Walusza for FIDE)
Despite the individual gold, she’s unambiguous about where her priorities sat throughout. “The team medal will always come first, because we’re giving out everything for the team. I wasn’t even caring about my individual gold; someone told me I’d already secured a medal before the last round, but I only found out I’d won gold after the round finished,” she recalled with a laugh. “I was just trying my best to win that last game so we could get a silver as a team. From the position I got, I couldn’t really convert anything, but I’m at least happy we got the bronze.”
A murky start, and the climb back from Kazakhstan and China
The campaign didn’t begin smoothly off the board. “When we arrived (in Samarkand) at the hotel, it was around 11:30 at night, and they said they couldn’t get the rooms ready,” Savitha told this website. “We didn’t get our rooms for five or six hours. They made us wait in the lobby, then gave one or two rooms for the whole team.”What followed, though, was a federation stepping up as Savitha confirmed, “After that, AICF made sure everything was sorted, and that we got our Indian food every day. The Indian restaurant was so far away that they had to arrange someone to get the delivery done, and they made sure the food was good quality and on time. I don’t think any federation would have done that. We’re all so grateful for it.”On the board, the campaign’s defining stretch came against Kazakhstan and China, the two matches where her own result decided India’s fate.“With both teams, I was the one playing till the last point, and my game was going to be the deciding factor,” she said. “It started with Kazakhstan; I got an equal position and was trying to push it. I think what helped me score was time management: after move 40 I was always ahead on the clock compared to my opponent, which put more pressure on them, and I was able to swindle the position.”
Savitha Shri in Round 10 of Chess Olympiad (Photo by Michal Walusza for FIDE)
Against China, the margins were just as tight. “It’s a bit sad we couldn’t win that one,” the teenager added. “When I got a better position, Vantika made a blunder at that point and got into a worse position. If she’d been able to hold a draw, I think we’d have got gold fairly easily.”
The captain who brought the ‘endless coffees’
Through the toughest stretches, Savitha points to one figure in particular for keeping the team together, especially after an early loss to Poland.“Swayams sir is the best captain ever, I think, because of the way he handled our team. We lost to Poland, but he was the one who motivated us. Even during games, if we wanted something, he was always there: water, bananas, everything. For me, he was bringing endless coffees, because I played till the last moment every time. He even jokingly said it was because of those coffees that I was able to swing all my games.” The backing went beyond logistics, she said. “He had so much confidence in me. I think he believed in me more than I believed in myself.”
Swayams Mishra at Samarkand Olympiad (FIDE Photo)
That trust, she added, was something she’d first experienced a cycle earlier, at the Asian Games, and carried with her into Samarkand.“There’s just so much you learn from being in a team like that, discussing lines together in team meetings, having those interactions, and them having so much confidence in me. They believed in me more than I did in myself at the time too,” she noted.Asked whether she thinks back to what her family gave up to get her here, Savitha is candid, albeit guarded, about letting it weigh on her day-to-day. “If I don’t play well, it all comes back to mind. My parents struggled. I know what they’ve gone through, because they had to spend so much on chess because of me. That’s something I’ll always remember. But I don’t really think much about it while I’m playing, or in general. I just have to stay in the present.”
What’s next?
Savitha, currently rated 2405, is treating the grandmaster (GM) title as a goal to work toward rather than something owed to her on reputation.“The Grandmaster title is definitely my goal, and I’ll be working towards it,” she said in a confident voice. “I’ll be playing tournaments, of course, but for now I think I’ll take a bit of rest. The Olympiad is such a big and tiring event. My next tournament will probably be the World Juniors in Namibia, though I might play something before that. I haven’t decided yet.”On where her game itself needs to sharpen next, she concluded, “In my own game, I think I should get a bit steadier in the openings, and probably work on some positional stuff as well. In the Olympiad, I played the aggressive, complicated positions pretty well; positional chess is the other part I’ll be working on.”
