Chess Olympiad: Indians beat Thailand 3-1; women empty Dominican Republic

World champions D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi recorded convincing victories but Arjun Erigaisi’s late collapse cost India a clean sheet as the men’s team opened their campaign at the 46th World Chess Olympiad with a 3-1 win over Thailand on Wednesday.

Nihal was the first Indian to win when he beat Thanadon Kulpruethanon before Gukesh produced a brilliant attacking display to beat Faris Rashid Alriyami. Vidit then completed a comfortable victory over Tupfah Khumnorkaew.

However, Arjun went down to Prin Laohawirapap after being in a position of strength for most of the match. Playing with the white pieces, Arjun missed out on a huge advantage in the latter stages of the middle game and was eventually pulled into the sixth hour.

Laohawirapap, a 20-year-old, held his nerve despite the lack of time and capitalized on Arjuna’s latest mistake. Arjun resigned himself to the impending doom.

Arjun wasn’t the only big name to suffer on the opening day, with highly-rated Levon Aronian of the United States drawing Iraq’s Ali Ehsan Aryan.

Meanwhile, the Indian women’s team started their campaign with a commanding 4-0 win over the Dominican Republic.

Top Indian Koneru Humpy got off to a winning start with a win over Francesca Ramirez Luzon with the white pieces, while R Vaishali had a smooth outing against Miguelina De La Rosa Martinez.

Vantika Agrawal had to work harder to win over Mary Loly Gonzalez Peguero. The Indian appeared to be heading for a draw before a mistake by her opponent led to a rook end and a small piece in which Vantika’s advanced pawn proved decisive.

B Savitha Shri also celebrated her Olympic debut with a victory over Karla Mya Nunez Diaz.

The Olympiad, one of the biggest events in the chess calendar, attracted teams from all over the world. Each team can have five players on their team, with four appearing in each round.

A total of 11 rounds are played, with each match win earning two match points. Game points will serve as a tiebreaker if two or more teams finish tied with match points on top.

Men: India beat Thailand 3-1 (Arjun Erigaisi lost to Prin Laohawirapap; Nihal Sarin beat Thanadon Kulpruethanon; D Gukesh beat Faris Rashid Alriyami; Vidit Gujrathi beat Tupfah Khumnorkaew).

Women: India beat Dominican Republic 4-0 (Koneru Humpy beat Franchesca Ramirez Luzon; R Vaishali beat Miguelina De La Rosa Martinez; Vantika Agrawal beat Mary Loly Gonzalez Peguero; B Savitha Shri beat Karla Mya Nunez Diaz).

– The end

Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

16 Sep 2026 22:18 IST