India played 2 big matches today at Chess Olympiad 2026 Round 10, on 26th September 2026, (Saturday). In the Open section, India beat Uzbekistan’s second team 3.5-0.5, a clean win with 3 individual victories. In the Women’s section, India drew 2-2 with China, the team leading the table. Savitha Shri B scored India’s only win in that match. Both results keep India’s medal hopes alive with 1 round left
Open Section: India Win 3 of 4 Boards Against Uzbekistan 2
India’s top 4 players had a strong day against Uzbekistan’s second team. Only one board ended in a draw.
Praggnanandhaa’s win over Jakhongir Vakhidov ran the longest, 63 moves. The position stayed close until White’s 28.Rd1?! let Pragg take control. It got messy again in a long rook ending, but White’s 38.Qxg2?? was the real turning point, recapturing with the queen instead of the king let Pragg’s attack through. Pragg ground the point out in a pawn ending.
Gukesh’s win over Ortik Nigmatov turned on one moment, 25…Qxb3??, which handed White a big material and positional edge. Gukesh spent the rest of the game converting patiently, and it went the distance to move 47 before Black gave up.
Nihal Sarin’s win over Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov was clean rather than dramatic. White drifted into trouble early with 18.c4? and 19.c5?!, and Nihal never let go of the advantage from there, closing it out on move 41.
Arjun Erigaisi’s game against Abdimalik Abdisalimov is the one that got away. Arjun was winning by nearly 3 pawns after some early Uzbek inaccuracies, but 30.Qa5?? let it all slip, missing the simple 30.Rxd8+ that would have kept the advantage. The game fizzled into a draw by move 34.
This win should take India’s Open team up to 17 match points, right at the top of the standings. Uzbekistan’s main team played Armenia in the other big match of the day. That result will decide whether India is now the sole leader or still sharing the top spot. We do not have that score yet.
Women’s Section: India Hold China to a Draw
India’s Women’s team faced China, the leaders of the section, in what many were calling the biggest match of the day. The two teams finished level, 2-2.
Koneru Humpy drew with Zhu Jiner on board 1, a level game that never left equality. Divya Deshmukh drew with Song Yuxin on board 2 in a similarly balanced fight. Vantika Agrawal lost to Lu Miaoyi on board 3, a long 65-move ending where a string of small errors, 45…Re8?, 47…Kd7?!, 49…Bg2?, slowly let the position slip away. Savitha Shri B beat Zhai Mo on board 4, the only Indian win of the match, and the point that turned a possible loss into a draw. Her win also takes her personal score to 8.5 points from 9 games at her first Olympiad. That’s 8 wins and 1 draw from 9 rounds, with no losses so far, making her a serious contender for individual gold on her board. Her Round 10 game is also featured in today’s Highlight of the Day.
This draw should take India to 16 match points, with China moving to 18. Two other teams, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, were also close to the top before this round, so we do not yet know exactly where India stands until their results are confirmed.
Chess Bharat’s Highlight of the Day: Savitha’s Escape and Win
(Savitha playing with White pieces against Zhai)
Savitha’s 19.Bg5? put her in real trouble early, and Zhai Mo held the better position for most of the middlegame. By move 36, Savitha was still worse.
Then both players fell into a stretch of mutual mistakes. 37.h4?? handed Black a near-winning edge, only for 37…h6?? to give it straight back. The swings kept coming, 40…Kg7??, 41.f3??, 42…Nb4??, 43.Kg2??, 44…Nb4??, 45.Rd1??, each one flipping the advantage before the next move flipped it again. Through all of that, the position kept settling back to roughly level.
The real break came much later. Zhai Mo’s 58…Rdf7?! finally handed Savitha a clean, lasting advantage, and this time nothing came back. Savitha pushed her queenside pawns forward and closed the game out on move 65.
This was not a clean escape from a single bad moment. It was a genuinely wild game where both sides had chances to win and to lose, and Savitha was the one still standing when it mattered. That kind of resilience, on top of an already outstanding tournament, is exactly why she is in the individual gold conversation.
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