Vishy Anand on India’s Olympiad board order: ‘Very tempting to drop Pragg on Board 1’

Gukesh is the reigning world champion, and the man who has won India two gold medals on board one across the last two Olympiads. Praggnanandhaa is the in-form player for India right now, having won Norway Chess and the Grand Chess Tour Finals. Arjun is India’s top-rated player, per the August 2026 rating list.

Praggnanandhaa poses with the 2026 GCT Finals trophy. (Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour)

Arjun sits at world No. 9, with a rating of 2759; Praggnanandhaa is 12th, at 2750; Nihal Sarin is 25th, at 2718; Gukesh has slipped to 31st, at 2703, having lost 74 rating points since January 2025, when he was the newly minted world champion. Vidit Gujrathi, the final player in the Indian side, is 33rd, at 2697.

Playing board one isn’t just a matter of prestige. It also means facing every opposing nation’s top player at the Olympiad.

Anand also weighed in on the board order for the women’s Olympiad team, who are also hoping to defend their gold medal. This time, chess legend Koneru Humpy will be part of the women’s team after missing the last edition of the Olympiad. Harika Dronavalli, meanwhile, will not be part of the side, with Vantika Agrawal and Savitha Shri rounding out the five-player squad.

“On the women’s side, I think it’s slightly simpler, which is you have Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh really for the top two boards. I don’t know how they’ll swap it around. And then Koneru and Vantika, I think probably Humpy on third and Vantika on fourth. It seems more straightforward, but maybe they also want to juggle it a bit,” Anand added.

At the 2024 Olympiad, India were in rampaging form in the open section, scything through the field and losing just once in the 44 games they played over 11 rounds. This time around, India is not looking as imperious as two years ago.

Ask Anand if India can retain their Olympiad gold, and he says: “The gold was not even as assured with that team in 2024. We kind of think that because it looks so obvious and easy that it was the right thing to happen. But an Olympiad always comes down to a few moments and some unpredictability. For the same reason, the bar is quite high for teams who repeat. It’s very difficult to repeat.

“But I don’t see a particular problem (in India winning again). Gukesh has had a difficult year and so on. But there’s no reason why the curve doesn’t turn again. I think there are other very good teams, Uzbekistan and the US certainly, and then you also have a few other teams with lots of young players. The chess scene is exciting in general. I don’t particularly have a prediction, but I’ve not given up on the Indian team or anything like that at all.”

These days Anand has stepped into the shoes as FIDE interim president, but he also enjoys playing in team events. He recently played in the German Bundesliga and the World Rapid and Blitz Teams event. In a week’s time, he will play on the top board for the PBG Alaskan Knights in the fourth season of the Global Chess League (GCL), after three seasons with Ganges Grandmasters.

“When you’ve decided to play less, then each event is also something you look forward to maybe slightly more,” Anand says. “It is fun being with a team. The atmosphere in GCL is generally quite relaxed. The team normally looks after us very well.”

Ask Anand if he would have enjoyed being a part of the Indian team headed for the 2026 Olympiad, and he says: “I have thought about this in 2024 and this year as well. Of course it’s not possible. But why not? I think it would be a fun team. Certainly, it wouldn’t depend on anyone.”

And would he have enjoyed having the likes of Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun as contemporaries? He smiles as he replies: “With all possible respect for Vishy sir, I think you should ask them that.”