Indian Teams Bounce Back With Wins Over England And Germany at Chess Olympiad

Men's Victory Over England

Defending champions India beat England 2.5 to 1.5 in Round 7 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad in Samarkand on Wednesday after bouncing back from a loss to Uzbekistan. R Praggnanandhaa opened the scoring by defeating Nikita Vitiugov with the black pieces on the top board for his second win of the tournament. Arjun Erigaisi then drew his match against Michael Adams after 40 moves on Board 2. D Gukesh secured the match win by defeating Daniel Howard Fernandez on Board 4 after capitalizing on a 40th-move error during a time scramble. Meanwhile, Nihal Sarin suffered his second straight defeat on Board 3, losing to English veteran Luke McShane despite applying sustained pressure.

Women's Sweep Against Germany

In the women's section, India defeated Germany 3.5 to 0.5 to keep their gold-medal defense alive and move into third place behind co-leaders China and Kazakhstan. Koneru Humpy defeated Dinara Wagner on the top board to end a streak of three draws. Teenage debutant Savitha Shri B won her sixth consecutive game by beating Lara Schulze on Board 4. Divya Deshmukh replaced Vantika Agrawal and defeated Hanna Marie Klek on Board 3, while R Vaishali secured a draw against Elisabeth Paehtz.