NEW DELHI: The 46th edition of the Chess Olympiad began on a murky note, with multiple teams facing accommodation issues upon arrival in host city Samarkand, Uzbekistan. India, the defending champions across both the open and women’s sections, also had to wait for hours before players were allotted separate rooms. Coming off a gruelling week back home for the Global Chess League (GCL), one of the players who had to hop straight from the Bengaluru event to Samarkand was India’s No. 2 Arjun Erigaisi.When Praggnanandhaa opted to rest for the opening-day fixture against Thailand, it was Arjun who stepped in to play Board 1. Playing white, he lost to Thailand’s 2363-rated International Master Prin Laohawirapap.World champion Gukesh, who has had a commendable score of 3.5/4 in this tournament, explained what had gone wrong for Arjun. “Arjun’s first game was very unfortunate, but also worth mentioning that we had very hectic travel and then the first day there were some organisation issues,” Gukesh said in an interview with FIDE after his Round 3 win over Italy’s Sabino Brunello. “So, Arjun got a room probably a few hours before he went. I mean, we all waited for like six hours to get a room. So obviously, in the first round, Arjun was just tired, and he blundered in the end.”Gukesh added that things had improved since then. “The first day was a bit tricky for all of us, but after that, I think we are all rested. We are all looking forward to the games and all good,” he said.Those words showed up in the results on Saturday, when Arjun took down Maksim Chigaev to secure his first win of the tournament, helping India beat Spain 3-1.
How Arjun Erigaisi won his first game at the 2026 Chess Olympiad
Arjun Erigaisi, playing white, produced a controlled attacking performance against Maksim Chigaev.The opening was a flexible Réti/English setup, with White gaining space through 12.h4 and 13.h5, provoking …g5 and creating long-term kingside targets.After 14.d5, White secured a useful space advantage while Black’s pieces became somewhat passive.The key strategic phase began with 17.Nh2 and 18.Bh3, followed by the exchange of bishops on c8. Erigaisi then expanded with 21.e4 and 23.f4, correctly opening lines while Black’s king remained vulnerable.The sequence 28.Qe4 Rxf1 29.Rxf1 Rf8 30.Rxf8+ simplified the rooks and left White with a dangerous queen-and-knight attack.The decisive phase was 31.Qh7, followed by 32.Qh8+ and 33.Ng4, coordinating queen and knight around the exposed king. After 34.Nxe5+, Black could not escape the perpetual-looking checks, and 36.Qf7+ ended the game.Elsewhere on the board, Gukesh continued his fine run, beating Spain’s Alexei Shirov to move to 4.5/5 and continuing a solid turnaround from Thursday’s dip below the 2700 rating mark.Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin both drew their games, enough for India to close out the tie 3-1.For Erigaisi specifically, the win carries added significance. As India’s second-highest rated player and a regular on Board 1 or 2 duty, a winless start would have added pressure to an already long season that had him travelling directly from the GCL in Bengaluru to Samarkand with barely any time to recover. Saturday’s result suggests that adjustment period may now be behind him.
India’s winning juggernaut marches on
India’s women’s team also kept their unbeaten run alive, beating Mongolia 3-1. Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu both drew their games against lower-rated opposition.But Divya Deshmukh and Savitha Shri won on the lower boards to see the team through comfortably, continuing a campaign that has yet to drop a match tie.With both squads now through four rounds without a defeat as a team, the tests only get tougher from here. India will take on Poland in the women’s section on Sunday, while the open team faces a mouthwatering clash against Anish Giri’s Dutch side, arguably the sternest test either Indian team has faced so far in Samarkand.
