After representing India on the top board for two successive Olympiads, world champion D Gukesh will be on board no 4 for India at the Chess Olympiad that begins on Wednesday. Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan made the gutsy call to have Gukesh on board 4, with Praggnanandhaa on the top board, Arjun Erigaisi on no 2, Nihal Sarin on board 3 and the 20-year-old world champion on board 4. Veteran Vidit Gujrathi will be the reserve player for India.

The decision means that there will be no Gukesh cannot play against Javokhir Sindarov, the Uzbek challenger who awaits the Indian in the world chess championship in November-December, because Sindarov has been named on the second board by the hosts Uzbekistan. In an Olympiad, players can only move up one position if a player on the higher board of your team is rested for a clash in the 11-round tournament. This means whenever one of Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin sit out a round, Gukesh will play from board 3 for India. The decision to play Gukesh on board 4 also means the Indian cannot face off against former world champion Ding Liren, who Gukesh dethroned in the world championship in 2024. Ding has been named on the top board by China.

Playing board one isn’t just a matter of prestige. It also means facing every opposing nation’s top player at the Olympiad.

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

In the women’s section, veteran Koneru Humpy has been named on board 1 while Vaishali, who will compete for the women’s world chess championship early next year against Ju Wenjun, will take her place on board 2. Divya Deshmukh will be on the third board with Vantika Agrawal on the fourth board and Savitha Shri will be the reserve player for India.

Both top board decisions were hotly debated. In the open section, Gukesh had a claim to play on top board as the reigning world champion, and the man who has won India two gold medals on board one across the last two Olympiads. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, was the in-form player for India right now, having won Norway Chess and the Grand Chess Tour Finals. Arjun, meanwhile, was India’s top-rated player, per the August 2026 rating list.

In the women’s section too, three players — the veteran Humpy who missed the previous Olympiad, Deshmukh, who had a barnstorming 2025, and Vaishali, who is a women’s world championship contender — could stake a claim to playing on top board for India.

At the Chennai Grandmasters tournament recently, Srinath had spoken about how the Olympiad might be the event that helps Gukesh, who is currently in the middle of a slump, turn around his form.

Story continues below this ad

“Confidence is something which can change in a game or two. Everyone has gone through such slumps in their career. If that bad phase changes, Gukesh will suddenly be a completely different player,” Srinath said. “I feel there is a potential chance of this turnaround happening in the Olympiad because unlike closed invitational tournaments which Gukesh has been playing where every player is rated about 2650 or 2700, the Olympiad in general is more like an open tournament, something which Gukesh hasn’t played in a long time, but that was where he built his initial successes.”