Chennai, Thursday. The air in the hall was thick with chess and cash. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay just handed out a combined Rs 6.9 crore to the state's medalists, covering both the 2026 Chess Olympiad and Asian Games heroes. For the chess contingent, the bottom line was Rs 60 lakh, split among five players who came home from Samarkand with medals in hand.
World champion D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa were the big earners, walking away with Rs 15 lakh each. Gukesh, who won individual silver and helped India secure the Open team silver, wasn't on the ground; his parents, Rajinikanth and Padma, collected the cheque on his behalf. Praggnanandhaa, who brought home individual bronze on Board 1 while contributing to the same team silver, collected his own.
The women's side got its share too. Savitha Shri B, who won individual gold and anchored India's bronze-winning women's team, received Rs 10 lakh. R Vaishali, also part of that bronze-medal squad, got Rs 10 lakh as well—her father Rameshbabu and Praggnanandhaa were there to collect it. Open team captain Srinath Narayanan rounded out the group with another Rs 10 lakh.
But the chess money was just the start of the evening. Vijay used the ceremony to launch Tamil Nadu's Dream Olympics 2036 scheme, a state-level push to keep its athletes competitive on the global stage. Under the new rules, selected athletes competing in the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and their para-sport equivalents will get Rs 50 lakh a year—broken down into a Rs 1 lakh monthly stipend, plus funds for training, nutrition, and international travel.
The state's chess team just finished the Olympiad with silver in the Open section and bronze in the women's event, and the government is clearly signalling that it wants more of the same. The next big test for Tamil Nadu's athletes will be the upcoming Asian Games, where the new 2036 scheme is set to kick in.