Nihal Sarin delivers decisive win as India edge Indonesia; Indian women beat Finland

On Thursday in Samarkand, on day two of the Chess Olympiad, Nihal Sarin produced the decisive victory as defending champion India defeated Indonesia 2.5-1.5 in the Open section. The reigning Indian women's team beat Finland 3.5-0.5 on the same day.

Nihal was in considerable trouble in his game against Arif Abdul Hafiz before converting the win in 37 moves. R. Praggnanandhaa, making his first appearance in this edition and described as in-form, was held to a draw by Susanto Megaranto after a long struggle that finished as a drawn rook-pawn endgame following 79 moves. World champion D. Gukesh drew with Satriya Cahaya and Vidit Gujrathi drew with Nayaka Budhidharma.

India’s second-round Open match scoreline read: R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Susanto Megaranto; Nihal Sarin beat Arif Abdul Hafiz; D. Gukesh drew with Satriya Cahaya; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Nayaka Budhidharma. Other second-round Open results published were: Uzbekistan bt Peru 3.5-0.5; USA bt Mongolia 2.5-1.5; China bt Chile 3-1; Germany bt Uzbekistan-3 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan bt The Philippines 3-1.

The top-seeded Indian women recorded three wins and one draw against Finland: Divya Deshmukh beat Johanna Paasikangas; Vantika Agrawal beat Sara-Olivia Sippola; B. Savitha Shri beat Heja Lehtinen; R. Vaishali drew with Anastasia Keinanen in 88 moves. The Indian women had scored a full 4-0 in the opening round against Dominican Republic.

Other published second-round women’s results included: Uzbekistan bt Ecuador 4-0; Kazakhstan bt Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-1; USA bt Belgium 4-0; Georgia drew with Montenegro 2-2; Ukraine bt Lithuania 4-0; Netherlands bt Luxembourg 4-0; China bt Colombia 3.5-0.5; Azerbaijan bt Denmark 4-0.

The posted results correspond to the second round of the Chess Olympiad at Samarkand and were published on September 17, 2026 at 10:42 pm IST.