Chess Olympiad Round 9: D Gukesh pulls a Houdini, keeps India in gold medal race - The Indian Express
There were no icy stares across the board, no trademark strolls with hands buried casually in trouser pockets, and no quiet aura farming over a sip of water. For more than five agonising hours of the ninth round, D Gukesh was stripped of his usual unflappable swagger, consumed entirely by the suffocating heat of a lost position and an inspired Alexander Donchenko pushing his team of giant-slayers Germany toward another famous scalp.
With Nihal Sarin having already split the point, and neither R Praggnanandhaa nor Arjun Erigaisi ceding an inch of ground in their stubborn, deadlocked battles, India’s gold-medal defence at the 2026 Chess Olympiad was slipping away by the second. What followed was daylight robbery from a 54-move Houdini act by the world champion that flipped certain defeat into a miraculous turnaround, snatching an improbable 2.5-1.5 victory from the jaws of defeat and keeping the champions alive in Samarkand.
Germany have been the surprise package of this tournament. Having pulled off two monumental upsets by toppling the top-seeded, mighty Americans and tournament favourites Uzbekistan, the Germans have transformed into the most feared side.
For the better part of the round, they made sure defending champions India understood exactly why they have earned that fearsome reputation. Nihal was drafted back into the playing four following his two consecutive defeats and was immediately pressed hard by Frederik Svane. Nihal, however, eventually managed to neutralise the position, finding precise resources to steer the game into a threefold repetition draw.
On the top board, Praggnanandhaa collided with Vincent Keymer, but the German No. 1 stood firm as a rock to deny the Indian prodigy any inroads. Candidates participant Matthias Bluebaum was equally unyielding on Board 2, successfully shutting the door even as Arjun Erigaisi tried every trick in the book to manufacture an edge.
Once again, it all boiled down to Gukesh and the world champion did not disappoint.
Gukesh and Olympiads are simply a match made in heaven. Across three editions spanning four years, from Mahabalipuram in 2022 and Budapest in 2024 to Samarkand in 2026, Gukesh has suffered just a solitary defeat. His infamous endgame heartbreak against Nodirbek Abdusattorov remains the only occasion he has ever conceded a full point on this stage.
In this edition, too, despite widespread chatter surrounding his patchy form and his tactical demotion from Board 1 to Board 4, Gukesh has consistently delivered when India needed him most.
While facing relatively lower-rated opposition on the lower boards comes with the territory, it is Gukesh’s clutch match-winning points that have single-handedly kept India’s pursuit of gold alive.
Yet, India now have glaring vulnerabilities laid bare for the field to exploit. Arjun, usually the man who thrives in utter chaos over the board, has gone strangely quiet. The ruthless streak that saw him dismantle the field on Board 3 in Budapest for an individual gold hasn’t shown up in Samarkand. Ever since that opening-round ambush by Thailand’s 2363-rated Prin Laohawirapap, the engine has sputtered and Arjun has scraped together just a solitary win across his next seven games.
Up on the top board, Praggnanandhaa has been rock-solid and tough to crack, but even he, arguably India’s most in-form player coming in, has managed only two wins in eight rounds. Throw in Nihal’s slump, which has seen a bright start unravel into half a point in three games with two stinging defeats, and the pattern is impossible to miss. With the rest of the board struggling to finish games, the burden of getting points has fallen squarely on Gukesh.
In the women’s section, the Indian team did their gold-medal credentials a world of good by powering past hosts Uzbekistan 3–1, courtesy of clinical wins from Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal on the middle boards.
Veteran Koneru Humpy’s clash against Afruza Khamdamova on the top board ended in a steady draw. On Board 4, the tournament’s breakout star Savitha Shri B was pushed to the absolute brink by Guldona Karimova. The high-flying teenager, however, showed nerves of steel to wriggle out of trouble and secure a draw, her first split point of the event after a blistering seven-match winning streak.
Once again, it was the star duo from Budapest which delivered when it mattered most. Vantika, armed with white pieces, punished a string of inaccuracies from Nilufarkhon Imomkuzieva to wrap up an emphatic 54-move victory. Beside her, Divya rolled up her sleeves for a marathon grind, methodically breaking down Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova’s resistance to squeeze out a hard-fought win in 72 moves.
With just two rounds left in Samarkand, both Indian sides now occupy second place on the leaderboard.
For the women, the path to the top goes straight through leaders China in a virtual gold-medal decider. The men, meanwhile, square off against a tricky Uzbekistan B side. While Srinath Narayanan’s men are firm favourites to pick up match points there, they still need Armenia to take something off Uzbekistan’s senior team to keep their destiny in their own hands.
