17 Sep, 2026. India’s Open team beat Indonesia 2.5-1.5 on Chess Olympiad 2026 Day 2, while the Women’s team brushed past Finland 3.5-0.5 in Samarkand on Thursday. Captain Srinath Narayanan rotated the lineup again, Praggnanandhaa returned to the board after sitting out Day 1, while Arjun Erigaisi was rested this time.
Master trickster Nihal Sarin, who is also the reigning World Bullet Chess Champion, was the only Indian to win outright on the Open boards. Although it hardly looked like a winning game for most of its length. Nihal started with the white pieces, and IM. Arif Abdul Hafiz transitioned the game into the Sicilian Defense. Nihal came out of the opening slightly worse.
Hafiz had clear chances on move 21 with 21.g6??, when the engine showed an evaluation of -5. Then the position turned into a street fight. Nihal blundered with 21.g6??, Hafiz blundered straight back with 21…f6??, and Nihal blundered again with 22.Qg3??, with the evaluation swinging wildly in both directions as neither side could see straight with seconds ticking away.
Hafiz actually clawed his way back to a completely balanced position by move 25. The game was there to be shared, or even lost, right up until Hafiz played 26…Kc7??, the moment everything turned. The king walked into a pin that handed Nihal a completely winning position, and there was no way back from there. Nihal wrapped it up on move 37 with Kc5+.
Gukesh drew with Satria Duta Cahaya, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Nayaka Budhidharma, and Praggnanandhaa drew with Susanto Megaranto. Indonesia’s average rating sat nearly 300 points below India’s on paper, which makes 3 draws out of 4 boards a tighter day than it should have been, even with Nihal’s escape act keeping the match on the right side of the ledger.
The Women’s team had no such trouble. Divya Deshmukh beat Johanna Paasikangas, Savitha Shri B beat Helja Lehtinen for her second win in as many Olympiad games, and Vaishali’s was the last Indian game to finish, all the other boards had already wrapped up by the time hers ended, but it was a balanced position, so she drew with Anastasia Keinanen. The standout, though, was Vantika Agrawal’s win over WFM Sara-Olivia Sippola.
Sippola’s position started drifting with 15.g4?!, and 16.Bf4?! let Vantika’s queenside pawns roll forward with tempo. The real damage came on move 18. White played Be3??, and the engine evaluation went down to -5.8 from almost a balanced to completely lost in a single move. Vantika broke through immediately with 18…d5, and there was no way back for Sippola from there, Vantika mopped up cleanly to seal the point.
Round 3 is on 18th September, 2026 (Friday). India will want a cleaner day on the Open boards, three draws against a team rated 300 points lower is a result worth tightening up before the pairings get harder.
A Rough Start for Team India
This start of the 46th Chess Olympiad at Samarkand isn’t the start we expected. Erigaisi lost to a 2363 IM on Day 1. Then Gukesh, Vidit, and Pragg, 3 Super GMs, all drew against IMs way below their rating. Against a team that on paper, we should’ve won with ease. That’s just not good enough, not from this squad, not after Budapest.
But it’s an 11 round event, not 2, and nothing’s decided yet. Gukesh has a habit of turning it on exactly at the Olympiad. Madman Erigaisi will bounce back too, just like he always does.
This is when the team needs us backing them the most, not the least. So let’s stay with them, win or draw.
(Today’s Highlight) How Nihal Turned a Losing Position Around
(Nihal Playing from White Pieces against Arif Abdul Hafiz)
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