D Gukesh got his Olympiad off to a winning start in the first round on Wednesday. Facing Thailand's Faris Alriyami, whose Classical rating is a good 800 points below the world champion, Gukesh was calm and assured as he patiently improved his position with the white pieces before winning the game in 37 moves.
The game had remained drawish for a vast stretches but once Gukesh seized the initiative with a brilliancy in the middlegame — 30. Bxe4 — the Thai's position collapsed like a pack of cards.
Overall, seven of the eight Indian players across both categories enjoyed winning starts to the tournament at Samarkand. While R Praggnanandhaa and Divya Deshmukh were rested for stiffer challenges in the days ahead, Nihal Sarin, featuring in just his second OTB Olympiad, was the first in the Open category to get a W over Thailand's Thanadon Kulpruethanon.
In a massive shock, though, Arjun Erigaisi, India's designated player on Board 2 (he was on Board 1 on Wednesday as Pragg was rested) suffered a shock loss to Prin Laohawirapap, an IM whose rating of 2363 is almost 400 rungs below Erigaisi's. But in a game which lasted 54 moves, the Thai IM punished Erigaisi who made a number of sub-optimal moves throughout the encounter.
In a drawn endgame, Erigaisi's 50. Qg7 was a one-move blunder. He eventually resigned when he was a few moves from being mated. The women's team enjoyed a very serene day as they had no problems in blanking Dominican Republic. Koneru Humpy, who had missed the last Olympiad, had the perfect start on the top board and the other players followed suit.
Pakistan boycott Israel clash
Politics was front and centre on Day One as Pakistan refused to play Israel. The end result was that Israel won the tie 2-0.
India's results
Open: India 2-0 Thailand (Nihal Sarin bt Thanadon Kulpruethanon, D Gukesh bt Faris Alriyami, Prin Laohawirapap bt Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi bt Tupfah Khumnorkaew)
Women: India 2-0 Dominican Republic (Koneru Humpy bt Franchesca Ramirez, R Vaishali bt Miguelina Rosa, Vantika Agrawal bt Mary Gonzalez, Savitha Shri bt Karla Diaz)