One match down for both squads, and both of India's teams at the Chess Olympiad 2026 are still standing clean after round 1. Round 2 sends them in different directions on the pairing sheet, but the underlying story is the same for both: a strong opening result, a lower rated opponent on paper, and a chance to build real momentum before the Swiss system starts throwing serious tests their way.
Round 2 of the 46th Chess Olympiad begins on September 17 at 15:00 local time in Samarkand. India's men enter as the second seeded team in the Open section, behind only the United States, while India's women arrive as the top seed in their event, ahead of Georgia, China, Kazakhstan, and the USA. Both squads are defending Olympiad gold medals from Budapest two years ago, and both come into round 2 looking to keep a clean record intact.
Open Section: India vs Indonesia
India's men won 3-1 over Thailand in round 1, with Gukesh, Vidit, and Nihal Sarin all converting cleanly while Arjun Erigaisi suffered the round's biggest surprise result on board one. That result puts India in the large group of teams that won their opening match, and within that group, the Swiss system's seeding logic pairs them against Indonesia, a side ranked well below them but not without genuine experience of its own.
Captain Srinath Narayanan brings Praggnanandhaa R back into the lineup for this round after resting him in round 1, meaning all five of India's players will have played by the end of round 2. The board order:
Board 1: Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia) vs Praggnanandhaa R (India). Megaranto is one of Indonesian chess's most experienced Olympiad campaigners, but Praggnanandhaa arrives fresh off winning Norway Chess in June, and this is his first game of the tournament.
Board 2: Arif Abdul Hafiz (Indonesia) vs Nihal Sarin (India). Nihal was one of India's three round 1 winners, and this pairing gives him a considerably tougher rated task than Thailand's board three player provided.
Board 3: Satria Duta Cahaya (Indonesia) vs Gukesh Dommaraju (India). The reigning World Champion faces an Indonesian IM in what looks, on paper, like a straightforward ratings mismatch.
Board 4: Nayaka Budhidharma (Indonesia) vs Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (India). Vidit was the calmest of India's four players in round 1, grinding down his Thai opponent with clean technique, and draws another lower rated opponent here.
Women's Section: India vs Finland
India's women enter Samarkand as the top seeded team in the entire Women's section, a status built on a squad depth that few federations can match. Their round 1 result has put them, like the men's team, into the large group of round 1 winners, and the pairing sheet sends them up against Finland for round 2.
The board order for this match:
Board 1: Anastasia Keinanen (Finland) vs Vaishali R (India). Vaishali anchors the top board for India and carries the weight of the team's title defense on the biggest individual matchup of this round.
Board 2: Johanna Paasikangas (Finland) vs Divya Deshmukh (India). Deshmukh, one of the form players in the world right now, is a significant step up in class for her Finnish opponent.
Board 3: Sara-Olivia Sippola (Finland) vs Vantika Agrawal (India). Vantika brings a settled, positionally sound style to a board where India will expect a straightforward path to a full point.
Board 4: Helja Lehtinen (Finland) vs Savitha Shri B (India). India's board four gets its first outing of the tournament here against a Finnish player rated well below her.
Why Both Teams Landed Lower Seeds
Neither pairing is a coincidence, and neither reflects a soft draw handed to India specifically. With 208 teams in the Open section and close to 190 in the Women's section, a Swiss system event this size does not throw its elite seeds at each other in round 2. Instead, every team that won its first match gets grouped together and paired according to where it originally sat in the seeding list. Both Indian teams sit near the very top of their respective fields, so both end up facing opponents seeded roughly forty to fifty places below them rather than genuine title rivals.
That does not make either match a formality. Round 1 already provided a reminder of exactly that lesson, when Arjun Erigaisi lost to a Thai opponent rated nearly 400 points below him. A single off day from any one player, on either team, can still cost a full point regardless of the rating gap on paper.
What to Watch For
On the men's side, Praggnanandhaa's return to the board after a rest round is the clear headline. His form since winning Norway Chess makes his first game in Samarkand one of the more closely watched individual matchups of the day, and how he performs will say a lot about where India's deepest attacking weapon stands heading into the tougher rounds still to come.
On the women's side, the story is about consistency rather than a single name. India's top seeding was built by a squad with no obvious weak board, and a clean 4-0 result here would be exactly the kind of statement that keeps the pressure on every other podium contender in the field. History adds its own subplot to both matches: no nation has defended the Open Olympiad title since Armenia's back-to-back wins in 2006 and 2008, and India will be chasing a first successful defense of the Women's title as well.
What Happens Next
Round 2 begins on September 17 at 15:00 local time in Samarkand, with nine rounds still to follow after this one. Elsewhere in the Open section's top half, hosts Uzbekistan face Peru, the United States take on Mongolia, and China meet Chile, all products of the same round 1 winners' bracket logic that paired India against Indonesia. For now, both Indian teams have a clear job in front of them: convert the rating advantage on the board, and keep the record clean before the pairings inevitably get harder.
