From parents' struggles to 'endless coffees': How Savitha won India's only gold medal

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.