India’s path to title defence at the 2026 Chess Olympiad across the men’s and women’s events in Samarkand was never going to be easy. But dropping a full point in the very first round still came as a big shocker when Arjun Erigaisi lost his game to Thailand’s IM Prin Laohawirapap on the top board.

Arjun played on Board 1 in the absence of R Praggnanandhaa, who sat out the opening round, and was handed a crushing loss by a player nearly 400 rating points below him in classical chess.

Playing with white in the Colle System, Arjun had huge winning chances against 2363-rated Laohawirapap. But the exhaustion of continuous events, having featured in the Esports World Cup and the Global Chess League, appeared to catch up with India No.2. He messed up in the endgame and lost his positional advantage when he traded his light-squared bishop and a rook for Black’s knight and rook pair by the 29th move.

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The Indian players in action in Round 1 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad. (Michal Walusza / FIDE)

Laohawirapap’s inaccurate play allowed Arjun to exchange his dark-squared bishop and activate his queen on the kingside to regain the advantage. However, Arjun looked far from his best and let his advantage slip once again, even though he had an edge on the clock.

With better drawing odds and a position to play for a win with an extra pawn, Arjun blundered badly, trapping his own queen. This time, Laohawirapap was in no mood to let it slip as he forced a resignation from the Indian in a mate-in-two position.

Thankfully for the Indian men’s team, the upset happened only after the defending titleholders had already sealed the match. It was Nihal Sarin who struck the first blow with the black pieces in the Symmetrical version of the English Opening against FM Thanadon Kulpruethanon on Board 2. Nihal ended the game in just 28 moves.

Vidit Gujrathi soon made it 2.0-0.0 in India’s favour, taking down Tupfah Khumnorkaew with the dark pieces.

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Talking point

The biggest talking point before the 2026 Olympiad had nothing to do with who India would play, but where D Gukesh would play. The reigning World Champion, India’s most potent weapon on the top board in 2022 and 2024, was suddenly placed on Board 4 by captain Srinath Narayanan, a decision that shocked many, as no other reigning World Champion had ever been fielded on a lower board since fixed board orders were introduced in 1931.

But Gukesh doesn’t seem to mind where he plays. If anything, the reduced pressure of Board 4 might give him exactly what he needs ahead of the all-important World Championship title clash against Javokhir Sindarov.

For Gukesh — who played on Board 3 after Pragg sat out — beating an untitled player 800 rating points below him was never going to be a problem, and he made light work of Faris Rashid Alriyami’s defence. The youngest-ever World Chess Champion bulldozed his way with the white pieces in the Queen’s Indian Defense and forced a resignation from the 1909-rated Alriyami in a mate-in-five position.

For the top-seeded Indian women’s team, the first round against the Dominican Republic turned out to be much smoother with a 4.0-0.0 clean sweep. (Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE)

For the top-seeded Indian women’s team, the first round against the Dominican Republic turned out to be much smoother with a 4.0-0.0 clean sweep. A little less than 3 hours from the start, in a span of six minutes, R Vaishali, Koneru Humpy, and Savitha Shri B won their respective games to give India an unassailable lead.

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Vaishali won her game in just 31 moves with the black pieces against 1792-rated Miguelina De La Rosa Martinez on Board 2. Humpy followed, beating 1832-rated Franchesca Ramirez in as many moves on the top board.

On Board 4, Savitha’s game against Karla Mya Nunez Diaz lasted 38 moves before the Dominican player resigned.

For Vantika Agrawal, who played as Divya Deshmukh skipped the round, it was a hard-fought win over Mary Gonzalez. Vantika struggled with time management for much of the game, with the position nearly equal. It wasn’t until the 45th move that she found any big inroads, but eventually, inexperience told as Gonzalez blundered in an equal position, losing the game in the next five moves.