Chess Olympiad: How India’s Arjun Erigaisi Suffers Biggest Round 1 Upset Against Lower-Rated Opponent

Arjun Erigaisi at the 1st round of the 2026 FIDE Chess Olympiad (photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz for FIDE) NEW DELHI: Arjun Erigaisi (ranked 2759) is currently India’s second ranked chess player. On Wednesday, when R Praggnanandhaa, India’s current No. 1, was rested, the 23-year-old Telangana grandmaster occupied board 1 for India at the 2026 Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.India’s opposition was Thailand, whose top board was occupied by international champion Prin Laohawirapap with a rating of 2363, Thailand’s number one. With nearly 400 Elo points adrift and Arjun holding the white pieces, the result looked like a formality.Instead, it became one of the biggest Round 1 upsets in Olympic history. Chess.com even made Thailand’s IM win over Arjun its Game of the Day, with only Iraqi CM Ali Ehsan Aryan’s draw against Levon Aronian coming close as an upset against the 2700-rated grandmaster.

How Arjun lost the plot

“The Indian grandmaster playing white started the game with the Colle system, which is not necessarily one of the sharpest systems. He got a slight advantage from the position,” veteran grandmaster Pravin Thipsay told TimesofIndia.com while analyzing the game.The first real opening came on turn 18.“The Thai player made a serious error of judgment when he played the e8 rook. Instead of move 18, Black’s move to f5, e to f5, would have led to a draw. But after the e8 rook, Arjun was in a very strong position,” he assessed.At that stage, Thipsay noted, victory looked routine as Arjun was gaining a considerable time advantage on the clock as well. However, it was step 28 that changed things.“Instead of starting the pawn roll with h4 on move 28, Arjun decided to exchange the black knight that came into his territory, and Bxd3 turned out to be a mistake that led to a straight position,” the grandmaster told this site.Thai Prin then returned the favor.“On the 31st move, it was the Thailand player who made a serious mistake,” Thipsay said. “He probably could have equalized. No direct king attack coming. The move chosen by the Thai player was very dangerous indeed. It weakened his king and Arjun was then in a completely winning position.”What followed was a master class in ingenuity from a lower ranked player.“The Thai player played really inventively and successfully complicated the game. The Thai player offered a rook, as we call it an exchange, a rook for a knight, on move 46-47,” he explained.“By taking the rook, the knight to e4 on move 47, Arjun could have won the game. Even though his king was very exposed and it could have led to eternal check or something. But yes, white had a decisive advantage in exact play if he had taken the rook with the knight to e4. Instead, he played the f3-knight, not taking the rook, which led to a draw.”Even then there was a half point. It was ambition that cost him.“In a draw position, again on move 50, Arjun played an ambitious move Qg7 and tried to checkmate his opponent, which allowed a very basic black checkmate. By playing the 50th move Qf4, Arjun could have defended and the game would have ended in a draw. But after the move played, Qg7, he got checkmate very quickly,” added Thipsay.“Quite an unexpected result given the difference of around 400 rating points, a big setback for Arjun.”

India get convincing wins in both categories

However, the defeat of Arjun Erigaisi did not affect the overall score of the Indian team. Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi beat their opponents to help India seal a 3-1 team victory.The Indian women’s team, with Divya Deshmukh rested, produced an even more dominant performance as they beat the Dominican Republic 4-0.India were among nine of the top 10 seeds to record clean sweeps on the opening day of the Women’s Olympics. Germany were the only team among the top 10 seeds to lose a match, narrowly defeating Malta 3–1.India, the defending champions in both sections, will face Indonesia on Thursday, while the women’s team will take on Finland.