Reigning champions Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali headline India's Olympiad defence
India names five-plus-five squads to defend both Chess Olympiad titles won in Budapest, with the event in Samarkand doubling as Gukesh's last stop before his world title defence.
India fields its strongest hand for the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, defending both titles won in Budapest.
World champion D Gukesh, in-form R Praggnanandhaa and Candidates winner R Vaishali will lead India's squads at the FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 16 to 27, according to a PTI report carried by ThePrint.
The open team is Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi, captained by Srinath Narayanan. The women's team is Humpy Koneru, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Savitha Shri B, captained by Swayams Mishra, PTI reported.
Both Indian teams are defending champions, having swept gold in both sections at the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest — a result independently confirmed by ESPN's coverage of that event. Sarin is the only new face in the open squad from the title-winning line-up; Humpy and Savitha were not part of that 2024 team, per PTI.
Praggnanandhaa won the Norway Chess tournament in June, PTI noted, while Vaishali became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's Candidates in April, earning a shot at Ju Wenjun's Women's World Championship title. It is not yet confirmed whether that match will clash with the Olympiad dates, which would affect Vaishali's availability in Samarkand, according to olympiad-tracking site olympchess.com — a detail FIDE has not addressed.
Separately, ESPN reported that Samarkand is Gukesh's last tournament before his own World Championship title defence, adding extra weight to India's push to retain the Olympiad crown.