Anurag Thakur Hails India's Chess Olympiad Haul in Samarkand
Synopsis
India delivered a landmark performance at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, winning board Golds for Gukesh, Savitha and Deshmukh, team Silver and Bronze, and retaining the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy — a sweep BJP MP Anurag Thakur celebrated as proof that 'the chessboard belongs to Bharat.'
Key Takeaways
Savitha , Divya Deshmukh , and D.
Gukesh each won Gold in individual board events at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand .
Vantika Agrawal won Silver ; Koneru Humpy and R.
Praggnanandhaa won Bronze in individual board events.
India secured Silver in the Open Team event and Bronze in the Women's Team event.
India retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy , awarded to the strongest overall national team at the Olympiad.
The result reflects over a decade of investment, including the Target Olympic Podium Scheme active since 2016 and India's hosting of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022 .
Gold medals, silver, bronze, and a retained trophy — India's chess players delivered a sweep at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan that BJP MP Anurag Thakur called a 'historic day of double delight' on Sunday, 27 September 2026.
The medals India brought home from Samarkand
The haul was remarkable in both its breadth and depth. B. Savitha, Divya Deshmukh, and D. Gukesh each claimed Gold in individual board events. Vantika Agrawal added a Silver, while Koneru Humpy and R. Praggnanandhaa secured Bronze medals. At the team level, India finished with Silver in the Open Team event and Bronze in the Women's Team event — a podium finish in both categories simultaneously.
Thakur, a former Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, tagged the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and each player individually, declaring: 'The chessboard belongs to Bharat.'
India retains the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy — again
Perhaps the most enduring symbol of India's collective chess supremacy: the country has once again retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy, the prestigious combined-team prize awarded at the Chess Olympiad to the nation with the strongest aggregate performance across both Open and Women's sections. Named after the legendary Georgian champion, the trophy is a benchmark of sustained national depth — not a one-section sprint.
Retaining it underlines that India's chess dominance is systemic. Koneru Humpy, a former Women's World Rapid Champion, has anchored the women's team across multiple Olympiads. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa — both part of a generation that came of age watching India host the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022 — have since grown into the spine of the Open team.
A decade of investment paying off in Uzbekistan
India's chess story is not accidental. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), run under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, has provided structured financial support to chess players since 2016, enabling access to world-class coaching, international tournament circuits, and preparation camps. The 2022 Chennai Olympiad — a home edition — injected fresh national visibility into the sport and accelerated grassroots participation.
The result is a genuinely deep bench: multiple players ranked inside the global top tier, across both genders, across age groups. Samarkand is not a peak — it is a proof point of a decade-long arc. The AICF and India's sports ministry now have a live case study in what sustained, federation-level investment produces on the world stage.
Next on the horizon: the 2027 World Championship cycle and preparation for the 47th Chess Olympiad — where India will arrive not as challengers, but as the team everyone else is chasing.
Point of View
Multi-generational excellence across both chess sections simultaneously. For the government, retaining the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is a tangible vindication of the TOPS framework and the infrastructure investment triggered by the 2022 Chennai Olympiad. The political optics are equally deliberate: a former sports minister publicly tagging every athlete by name reinforces a brand of personalised, achievement-linked nationalism that the BJP has cultivated around India's sporting rise. The broader arc to watch is whether this depth translates into World Championship titles in the 2027 cycle — the one honour that has so far eluded India at the absolute summit.
NationPress
28 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won gold for India at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand?
B. Savitha , Divya Deshmukh , and D. Gukesh each won Gold medals in individual board events for India at the 46th Chess Olympiad held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan .
What is the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy and why did India win it?
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded at the Chess Olympiad to the nation with the strongest combined performance across both the Open and Women's team events. India retained it in 2026 by finishing on the podium in both team competitions.
How did India perform as a team at the 2026 Chess Olympiad?
India's Open team won Silver and the Women's team won Bronze at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand , in addition to multiple individual board medals.
What did Anurag Thakur say about India's chess performance?
BJP MP Anurag Thakur called it a 'historic day of double delight' and declared 'The chessboard belongs to Bharat', congratulating all medal-winning players individually on 27 September 2026 .
Where is the 46th Chess Olympiad being held in 2026?
The 46th Chess Olympiad is being held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan .
