Fresh off his exploits at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi has let go of a chance at title defence in Azerbaijan for an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old Gujrathi was part of India’s first-ever title-winning campaign at the Chess Olympiad. Up next for him was the 10th Vugar Gashimov Memorial Chess Super Tournament in Azerbaijan, an event he had won last year.

He took to X on Wednesday, in response to another user, to say how he had reached Baku for the event and then decided to return to India to meet the Prime Minister on learning about the felicitation function.

“Reached Baku and got to know our Hon’ble PM wants to felicitate the Indian team. I was overjoyed when I heard this and I wanted to be apart of it,” Gujrathi wrote.

Aravindh Chithambaram has replaced Gujrathi for the event which starts on Thursday.

The All India Chess Federation announced ₹3.2 crore in rewards for the Indian teams. Each player will receive ₹25 lakh, while the captains of the men’s and women’s teams will be rewarded with ₹15 lakh each.

PTI