The Indian women are seeded first in the Chess Olympiad, which will be held in Samarkand from September 15 to 28. India’s men are seeded second, behind the top seed, the United States. India is the reigning champion in both sections.

Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, R. Vaishali, Vantika Agrawal and B. Savitha Shri make up the women’s team, while in the open section, women are free to compete with men in chess. D. Gukesh, R. Praggnananandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi will defend the crown.

The men’s team shows one change, with P. Harikrishna being replaced by Nihal. There are also two changes in the women’s team, with Humpy and Savitha coming in for D. Harika and Tania Sachdev.

In the open section, the United States, featuring top players liked Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian, will face third seed Uzbekistan, which includes Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Nodirbek Yakubboev. China, Germany and the Netherlands are also among stronger contenders in the open category. The USA’s average rating is 2751, while India’s is 2733.

In the women’s section, India would be challenged by the likes of second-seed Georgia, Kazakhstan, and China — which isn’t fielding some of its best players, though — and Ukraine and the United States. The average rating of the top-seeded India is 2476, while Georgia is 2449.

The 46th edition of the Olympiad, the equivalent of Davis Cup in tennis, has attracted a record 400 teams – 208 in the Open and 192 in the women’s sections. At Budapest two years, ago, there were 380 teams.

The Olympiad will be played over 11 rounds and games will be contested over four boards. The best players in each section are also awarded individual board medals.

In the last Olympiad, Gukesh, Arjun, Divya and Vantika had won individual gold medals for India.

Published - August 06, 2026 03:16 pm IST