Camaraderie among the members of the Indian squad will help in the Olympiad title defence, Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa said while expressing confidence of a strong show.

The 20-year-old said the team was strong and had the experience to handle the pressure of being the defending champion. He said the core of the team from the winning campaign in 2024 was same time except for Nihal Sarin replacing P. Harikrishna.

“I think we are all very good friends. Being friends helps a lot when you are playing a team event like the Olympiad,” he told The Hindu on the sidelines of an event at D.G. Vaishnav College here.

Asked if there would be huge pressure on India as the title-holder, Praggnanandhaa said, “there will always be pressure when you are representing the country. You want to do well. It’s not about pressure from outside. It’s more of an expectation from yourself that you will do well. We have experienced all this and are ready.”

Backing Gukesh

About World champion D. Gukesh’s below-par performances since winning the sport’s biggest prize, Praggnanandhaa said, “he has won gold (board prize) and been part of a victorious Olympiad campaign. I don’t know who else has done these things.”

“He has shown that he belongs at the top. Sometimes everyone has these bad phases. I think this is just one of those,” he added.

He expected the home team Uzbekistan with Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Gukesh’s challenger Javokhir Sindarov in the line-up, to be among the teams to beat in the Olympiad.

World champion D. Gukesh appeared flustered yet showed remarkable defensive skills to deny Vincent Keymer before turning the tables on his opponent in the Armageddon after securing a draw in the Classical game to open his campaign in Norway Chess 2026 with a victory, here in Oslo on Monday (May 25, 2026).

Gukesh’s compatriot R. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, attacked with intent to prevail over American Wesley So to start on a winning note.

It was French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, who pulled off a surprise victory over World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the classical game. Carlsen appeared comfortable for a large part of the game, but made an error under severe time, allowing his opponent to grab the initiative.

Firouzja, who suffered an ankle injury at the recent Grand Chess Tour event in Bucharest and playing while resting his right leg on a chair, played accurately to register his first win against the Norwegian in a classical game.

The highly-rated Frenchman is in the lead with three points after a rare defeat in the classical format for the world’s top player.

In the Gukesh-Keymer match, the former worked his way to winning position but couldn’t find a way to pick up full points. The Indian made a wrong 50-move draw claim, handing Keymer two extra minutes in a time scramble. Yet, Keymer could not manage to find the win. Gukesh made a second 50-move claim, and the game ended in a draw.

In the Armageddon, however, it was a decisive move on the 15th turn that dashed the hopes of the German GM.

In the Women’s event, Indian GM Divya Deshmukh came up with an impressive performance to surprise World champion Ju Wenjun in the Armageddon after the classical match ended in a draw. Koneru Humpy, the other Indian in the fray, however, fell to a defeat against

Bibisara Assaubayeva, who capitalised on the opportunities in the middlegame before converting her advantage with precision to take the lead with three full points for victory in the classical.

First round results

Open: D. Gukesh bt Vincent Keymer (Ger), R. Praggnanandhaa bt Wesley So (USA), Alireza Firouzja (Fra) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor).

Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz) bt Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh bt Ju Wenjun (China), Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) lost to Zhu Jiner (China).

(The writer is in Oslo at the invitation of Norway Chess.)