Indian Women’s team begins World Chess Olympiad campaign with 4-0 victory

By  News On Air   Sep 17, 2026

In Chess, Indian Women’s Team began their campaign with a commanding 4-0 victory over the Dominican Republic at the 46th World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, yesterday.

Top-ranked Indian Koneru Humpy made a winning start with a victory over Franchesca Ramirez Luzon, while R Vaishali had a smooth outing against Miguelina De La Rosa Martinez. Vantika Agrawal had to work harder for her victory over Mary Loly Gonzalez Peguero. B Savitha Shri also celebrated her Olympic debut with a win over Karla Mya Nunez Diaz.

Indian Men’s team also began its campaign with a victory, with world champion D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi registering a convincing 3-1 victory over Thailand. Nihal was the first Indian to win, defeating Thanadon Kulpruethanon, before Gukesh produced a brilliant attacking display to beat Faris Rashid Alriyami. Vidit then completed a comfortable victory over Tupfah Khumnorkaew. However, Arjun Erigaisi went down to Prin Laohawirapap after being in a position of strength for much of the game.

The Olympiad, one of the biggest events in the chess calendar, has attracted teams from across the world. Each team can have five players in its squad, with four featuring in each round.