Pressure will be on Ding to defend his title against Gukesh: Pia Cramling

Legend Pia Cramling reflects on her enduring career, gender equality in chess, and the Chennai Chess Olympiad.

At the Chennai Chess Olympiad in 2022, the brightest star was D. Gukesh. He scored eight successive wins on the top board for India-2 on his way to the individual gold medal in the open section.

He was just 16 then. The gold medallist on the top board in the women’s event was a little older. Pia Cramling was 59.

She is indeed one of the most durable players on the chess circuit. A former World No. 1, the Swedish Grandmaster was one of the pioneers when it came to women taking on – and beating —men in international chess.

Happy about parity

She is happy that women’s chess is beginning to get its due. She is one of the players in the women’s section of the Norway Chess tournament that begins at Stavanger on Monday. The event carries the same prize money for both men and women (the only time that happened before in international chess was at the Tata Steel India tournament in Kolkata last year).

“In all my career I have never played a tournament like this and it will encourage the women in chess,” Cramling told The Hindu over phone from Sweden. “Having equal prize fund is very important and I am happy to play in this tournament, which is a very strong one.”

So what keeps Cramling, ranked 26th in the world, going at 61?