'Unrealistic to win gold every time': India captain after Chess Olympiad silver

NEW DELHI: "Don't blame me for keeping the board order in suspense. I had it on chess-results right from September 1." The message, though posted with a laughing emoji from Srinath Narayanan's own social media handle the moment India's board order for the 46th Chess Olympiad became public, was the first sign of how closely one particular decision was being watched.In the weeks before the team left for Samarkand, no topic dominated chess circles more than the absence of world champion Dommaraju Gukesh from the top three boards.Olympiad boards are assigned by strength, and as reigning world champion, Gukesh had always been the default choice for Board 1, exactly where he sat during India's gold-clinching Budapest campaign in 2024.But this time, a run of poor results had dropped his rating to the point where he was, remarkably, only the second-lowest-rated player in India's own squad, ahead of Vidit Gujrathi.