Gukesh, Humpy to lead Indian teams at 2026 Chess Olympiad

The reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and veteran Koneru Humpy will lead the Indian teams for the 2026 Chess Olympiad later this year.

The tournament is slated to be held from 16 to 27 September, 2026 in Samarkad, Uzbekistan.

Joining Gukesh in the men's teams will be Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and Nihal Sarin.

Meanwhile the women's team will feature Divya Deshmukh, Savita Shri, Rameshbabu Vaishali, and Vantika Agarwal to accompany Humpy.

Both the Indian teams will enter the tournament as the defending champions, having won the title in Budapest in a watershed moment for Indian chess two years ago.

From the victorious men's team, the only change is Nihal being drafted in, replacing Pentala Harikrishna.

Meanwhile, the women's team has changes with Koneru Humpy and Savita Shri replacing Harika Dronavalli and Tania Sachdev respectively.

Srinath Narayanan will continue to be the non-playing captain of the men's team, while Swayams Mishra replaces Abhijit Kunte as the captain of the women's team.