India rebounds with wins in both open and women's sections at Chess Olympiad

After a surprise loss to host Uzbekistan in the previous round – their first defeat of the tournament – the Indian men’s team bounced back on Wednesday, edging England 2.5‑1.5. Grandmasters R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh delivered the decisive points by beating Nikita Vitiugov and Daniel Howard Fernandez respectively, while Arjun Erigaisi held Michael Adams to a draw. Nihal Sarin suffered his second consecutive loss, this time to Luke McShane.

Uzbekistan, meanwhile, preserved its sole lead in the open standings with a 3‑1 triumph over China, taking its match‑point total to 12 – two ahead of India and four other teams, including the Netherlands, Germany, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In the women’s event, India moved into a joint‑second position, just one point shy of leaders China and Kazakhstan, both on 12 points. The Indian women’s team overwhelmed Germany 3.5‑0.5, with Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh and B. Savitha Shri each scoring wins and R. Vaishali drawing her game.

With four rounds remaining, the Indian squads will look to close the gap on the leaders. The open team needs to maintain momentum to challenge Uzbekistan’s lead, while the women’s side aims to overtake China and Kazakhstan by capitalising on their strong start.