I was prepared to do 'whatever it takes' to help India win gold in Chess Olympiad: Gukesh

World Championship challenger D Gukesh on Sunday said he didn't think about his personal achievements and was prepared to do "whatever it takes" to secure India’s maiden gold medal at Chess Olympi following near-misses in previous editions.

18-year-old Gukesh was a key architect in India’s historic victory, as men's team defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5 in final round to claim ir first-ever gold at prestigious event. Indian women’s team also secured gold, marking a historic double for country.

"I feel great, especially with quality of my games and how we played as a team and despite many close misses in past, we managed to dominantly win this time. I'm just super happy right now," Grandmaster Gukesh, who secured eight wins in 11 rounds, told International Chess Federation (FIDE) after match.

India's men's team was on brink of winning gold medal after defeating USA 2.5-1.5 on Saturday. Needing only a draw in final round, team went one better by defeating Slovenia to clinch top spot.

"Yesterday we were in team meeting, we were alrey in celebrations mood. I was super excited but I hoped re would be no game. We forced ourselves to focus and come here, do job, and n celebrate," said Gukesh.

"I thought even if we lose match, we still win on tie breaks. We wanted to win match, of course. We were expecting a win. We were all pretty relaxed. But yeah, gl that me and Arjun got job done." Indian men h earlier won two bronze medals -- in 2014 and 2022 (held in Chennai) -- in tournament.

"This tournament for me, especially since what happened last time, we were so close as team to win goal. This time I thought no matter what I'm going to do, whatever it takes to win team goal," Gukesh told Chess24.

"So I did not really think about individual performance much. I just wanted team to win this time." Gukesh's outstanding run included a stunning victory over world No. 3 Fabiano Caruana in Saturday’s crucial match against USA.

"I guess it's just sticking with discipline and staying focused on tournament. And once you get into rhythm, everything happens automatically. Once I got first four wins, I thought I'd set myself up for a very great tournament," he said.

Gukesh will challenge China’s Ding Liren for world title later this year, but he said that wasn’t on his mind during Olympi.

"In this tournament, I wasn't thinking about match. Olympi is one of most important tournaments of year and I was just thinking about event, but it's nice to see that I'm getting into shape and feeling myself.

"And yeah. Still some time left, so we'll do some more work and hopefully for match I'll be rey." Asked if he h anything to hold back during Olympi with world championship in mind, Gukesh said: "I guess re should be a balance. Like re are some things that you have to think about before playing. re are some things you just play. I wouldn't say it was such a big problem.

"In Olympi, I just wanted this, like, a very important one for sure. Not as important as match, but a very important one for me personally. So I just wanted to give it my all and win this tournament." Asked how team will celebrate, Gukesh said: "Hopefully tonight, when all duties are done, we'll get toger and maybe just hang out, laugh a bit." On his training, he said: "It depends. When I'm at home I try not to work too much. Because I don't have many or hobbies and if I sit with chess I might as well spend whole day.

"But at this point, I guess also re is a risk of burning out and re is also importance of saving energy. So I would say 6-8 hours on a daily basis if I don't have any or commitments.

"When I was younger, it used to be more but during tournaments I try to keep it light when preparing and most of energy is spent on game itself." How he handles pressure? "I think it's about following some good practices over a long period of time.

“I've been practising meditation and yoga for quite some time alrey. And surely it helped and also I used to handle se things very bly before. But I think once I got a bit mature, with experience, I just got better at handling  situations.”