Time flies. It has been two years since those beautiful images from Budapest caught India’s imagination — the country’s young chess players, men and women, posing for photographs after their twin success at the Chess Olympiad. It was one of the country’s greatest days in its sporting history.

Chess Olympiad is an event as huge and competitive as the name suggests. It is even huger this time.

The 46th edition of the biggest team event in chess — it is like tennis’ Davis Cup or badminton’s Thomas Cup — starts in Samarkand on Wednesday.

In the fray are 208 in the open section and 191 in the women’s.

India is certainly among the favourites in both categories, despite some changes in the squads and the big dip in form of one of the key players.

There is no denying the fact that the way D. Gukesh has struggled after becoming the youngest World champion has raised concerns. That, however, doesn’t mean he cannot regain his form.

Remember, he was an absolute beast for India in the last two Olympiads. He was brilliant against some of the world’s strongest players and won the individual gold medal.

Gukesh may not be going into the Olympiad in perfect shape, but R. Praggnanandhaa is. He has been winning just about everything. India also banks heavily on Arjun Erigaisi. Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi complete the team.

The host Uzbekistan, which features two of the world’s best young players in Javokhir Sindarov (Gukesh’s opponent in the upcoming World title match), and the United States, the top seed, could be India’s strongest rivals. The Indian men are seeded second.

The women are seeded first. The return of Koneru Humpy, one of the best players of all time in the women’s game, has strengthened the team. Her class and experience should help. She hadn’t played in Budapest, and told The Hindu how excited she was to play in this Olympiad and help her team defend the title.

India needs Divya Deshmukh and R. Vaishali, two young women who have been gaining in strength, to perform well, too. Vantika Agrawal should be hoping for another solid show for India while the 19-year-old B. Savitha Shri is making her debut.

India could face strong challenges from the likes of Georgia, Kazakhstan and China.

The tournament, to be played over 11 rounds in the Swiss system, concludes on September 27.

At the Global Chess League, the margin for error can be thin. So thin, it doesn’t exist.

M. Pranesh and Abhimanyu Mishra found that out in excruciating fashion at the Lalit Ashok on Tuesday.

Pranesh was in a completely winning position against Nihal Sarin, but he overlooked a simple checkmate and lost. Pranesh, however, had the consolation that his team, Cheq Mumba Masters, won the match against Fyers American Gambits 11-6.

Abhimanyu’s misfortune against Leon Mendonca proved costly, though. His team, PBG Alaskan Knights, lost to Ganges Grandmasters, 8-12. Abhimanyu was placed for a win in his game that would have given his team a match victory. However, when he promoted his pawn, in the time scramble, he put the queen on the wrong square after the capture.

Mendonca claimed it was an illegal move and the arbiter reset the clock, which left Abhimanyu to replay the capture and queening in one second. That wasn’t humanly possible. So, he lost on time, as did his team.

The day’s other matches weren’t as dramatic, though there was plenty of excitement.

Four on top

At the end of it all, as many as four teams shared the top spot. At the half-way mark, defending champion Alpine APL Pipers — despite a 4-10 loss to Kings — Mumba, Grandmasters and Gambits have all nine match points each.

Pipers and Mumba are tied on games points, too – 47 each. Ganges is on 47 and Gambits, which has played a match more, on 52.

The results: Ganges Grandmasters bt PBG Alaskan Knights 12-8 (Ian Nepomniachtchi bt Viswanathan Anand; Levon Aronian lost to Arjun Erigaisi; Leinier Dominguez bt Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus; Polina Shuvalova bt Kateryna Lagno; Stavroula Tsolakidou lost to Nino Batsiashvili; Leon Mendonca bt Abhimanyu Mishra).

Fyers American Gambits lost to Cheq Mumba Masters 6-11 (Javokhir Sindarov drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Nihal Sarin bt M. Pranesh; Daniil Dubov lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with D. Harika; Sarasadat Khademalsharieh lost to Carissa Yip; MarcAndria Maurizzi drew with Bardiya Daneshvar).

Triveni Continental Kings bt Alpine APL Pipers 10-4 (Alireza Firouzja drew with Magnus Carlsen; Wei Yi drew with Anish Giri; Aravindh Chithambaram bt Vidit Gujrathi; Zhu Jiner drew with Divya Deshmukh; Alexandra Kosteniuk drew with Koneru Humpy; V. Pranav bt Volodar Murzin).

Alaskan Knights lost to American Gambits 9-12 (Anand lost to Sindarov; Arjun lost to Nihal; Erdogmus bt Dubov; Lagno bt Assaubayeva; Batsiashvili bt Sarasadat; Abhimanyu lost to Maurizzi).