Chess Olympiad Round 4: Arjun Erigaisi wins first tournament; The victorious Indian juggernaut continues

Arjun Erigaisi at the 46th Chess Olympiad (photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz for FIDE) NEW DELHI: The 46th edition of the Chess Olympiad got off to a somber start as several teams faced accommodation problems after arriving in the host city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan. India, the defending champions in both the open and women’s sections, also had to wait for hours before the players were allocated separate rooms. After a grueling week at home for the Global Chess League (GCL), one of the players who had to jump straight to Samarkand from the event in Bengaluru was Indian No. 2 Arjun Erigaisi.With Praggnanandhaa opting to rest the opening day match against Thailand, it was Arjun who stepped into Board 1. Playing for white, he lost to Thailand’s international champion Prin Laohawirapap, ranked 2363.World champion Gukesh, who had a commendable score of 3.5/4 in this tournament, explained what went wrong with Arjuna. “Arjun’s first match was very unfortunate, but it’s also worth noting that we had very hectic travel and then there were some organizational problems on the first day,” Gukesh told FIDE after his 3rd round win over Italy’s Sabine Brunello. “So Arjun probably got a room a few hours before he left. I mean, we all waited about six hours to get a room. So obviously in the first round Arjun was just tired and ended up making a mistake.”Gukesh added that things have improved since then. “The first day was a bit difficult for all of us, but after that I think we are all rested. We are all looking forward to the matches and all the best,” he said.Those words were reflected in the results on Saturday when Arjun beat Maksim Chigaev to secure his first win of the tournament and help 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 at 12.h4 and 13.h5, provoking …g5 and creating long-term kingside goals.After 14.d5, White has secured a useful space advantage, while Black’s pieces have become somewhat passive.A key strategic phase began with 17.Nh2 and 18.Bh3, followed by a bishop exchange on c8. Erigaisi then expanded with 21.e4 and 23.f4, correctly opening ranks while the black 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 the queen and knight around the exposed king. After 34.Nxe5+ Black could not escape the seemingly eternal checks and 36.Qf7+ ended the game.Elsewhere on the board, Gukesh continued his fine run by defeating Spain’s Alexei Shirov to move to 4.5/5, continuing his solid turnaround from Thursday’s slide below the 2700 rating mark.Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin both drew, which was enough for India to seal the tie 3-1.For Erigaisi in particular, the win has another meaning. As India’s second-highest ranked player and a regular on deck 1 or 2, a winless start would add pressure to an already long season that has seen him travel straight from the GCL in Bengaluru to Samarkand with no time to recover. Saturday’s result suggests that the adaptation period may already be over.

The victorious Indian juggernaut marches on

India’s women’s team also maintained its invincibility, defeating Mongolia 3:1. Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu both drew their matches against lower ranked opposition.But Divya Deshmukh and Savitha Shri picked up wins in the lower tables to see the team through comfortably and continue their so far undecided campaign.With both teams now going four rounds unbeaten as a team, the tests only get tougher from here. India take on Poland in the women’s section on Sunday, while the open side face a thrilling clash with Anish Giri’s Dutch side, arguably the toughest test both Indian teams have faced in Samarkand so far.