SAMARKAND, 22 September — Six rounds into the 46th Chess Olympiad, one team is perfect and it isn't India. The event runs in Samarkand from September 15 to 27, and today, September 22, is the rest day, with Round 7 tomorrow. Hosts Uzbekistan hold the only perfect record in the Open section. They have 12 match points, a point clear of China and Armenia, with India back on 10 in seventh.
The three moves that changed the Olympiad
India and Uzbekistan met on Monday as co-leaders. For three boards the match went the way the ratings suggested. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi drew solidly on the top two boards. When Gukesh agreed a draw with Shamsiddin Vokhidov on Board 4, a shared match looked certain.
That left Nihal Sarin against Nodirbek Yakubboev. Nihal was better on the board and ahead on the clock, but with about half an hour left he blundered his queen. Uzbekistan won 2.5-1.5. The loss ended India's run of Open Olympiad match wins dating back to 2022.
The defeat hurts more because India had just found their form. In Round 5 they beat the Netherlands 3-1: Praggnanandhaa won a see-saw game against Anish Giri, and Gukesh punished a blunder by Erwin l'Ami. The start of the event had been uneven. A Thai IM beat India's No. 2 in Round 1, and Gukesh dropped below 2700 in Round 2.
Gukesh on Board 4: the story within the story
The world champion playing fourth board is the most interesting individual subplot of the Olympiad. He went into Round 6 on 4.5/5, a good sign two months before he defends his title against Javokhir Sindarov in November. After Monday's draw he is on 5/6. He and Sindarov played in the same match on Monday but on different boards: Sindarov faced Arjun on Board 2. The meeting everyone wants, before the world championship match, still hasn't happened. It may never happen here.
India Women: bruised, but still in contention
The women's team were top seeds and are defending champions, and they have had their own setback. In Round 5 they lost to Poland for the third Olympiad in a row, with IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya's win over Vaishali the only decisive game.
They recovered well. India beat the USA 3-1 on Monday, with Savitha Shri and Vantika Agrawal winning. Savitha is the story of the week for India: the 19-year-old from Chennai is on a perfect 5/5 in her Olympiad debut. On the other boards, Humpy was solid against Carissa Yip, and Divya Deshmukh became the first player in Samarkand to hold Alice Lee to a draw.
The standings are the hard part. China and Kazakhstan are the only teams on 12/12, two points clear of an 11-team pack that includes India. The two leaders play each other tomorrow, and India need that match to go against at least one of them.
The GCL connection: 48 hours from rapid to classical
A large share of the Olympiad's star players arrived straight from the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. Season 4 ran from 5 to 13 September at The Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru, two days before the Olympiad's opening ceremony. Ganges Grandmasters won the final 4-2 against the defending champions, Alpine APL Pipers. Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Magnus Carlsen, and Stavroula Tsolakidou beat Humpy Koneru to clinch the title.
Look at India's two squads and the GCL players stand out. Arjun played for PBG Alaskan Knights, Nihal for FYERS American Gambits, and Vidit, Humpy and Divya for the Alpine APL Pipers. That is five of India's ten Olympians. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh did not play in Bengaluru.
The overlap continues across the rest of the field. Sindarov was the American Gambits' Icon player and is now leading Uzbekistan's charge. Giri, Nihal's teammate at the Pipers in Bengaluru, lost to Praggnanandhaa in Samarkand. Wei Yi, Levon Aronian, Carissa Yip, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk all went from franchise teammates to national rivals within a week.
Nihal's week shows how quickly form can turn. In Bengaluru, he won his game against Pranesh M in the third-place match that secured a podium finish for the American Gambits. Eight days later, he lost the game that cost India first place.
Some GCL names are missing from Samarkand. Carlsen is not playing for Norway, and Russia is absent because of a FIDE suspension. That rules out Nepomniachtchi, the GCL-winning captain. Alireza Firouzja turned down a place on France's team.
What comes next
Round 7 starts Wednesday, September 23, at 3:45 p.m. IST. The Open team face England, and the women face Germany. Five rounds remain, and India's Open team need help from other results. Uzbekistan have won the close matches that often decide Olympiads, and they have a home crowd behind them. India's golden generation, however, has come back from difficult positions before.
