Gukesh Escapes Losing Position to Beat Germany, Keeps India in Medal Hunt at Chess Olympiad

D Gukesh was, by his own admission, losing for most of Friday's Round 9 game against Germany's Alexander Donchenko at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. He won anyway, and that win carried India's open team to a 2.5-1.5 match victory over Germany, according to the Fide-sourced quotes carried by Hindustan Times.

"For a long time, I felt I should be slightly better but I couldn't find a breakthrough," Gukesh told Fide. "Towards time control I just completely lost track, White should be winning and I was just trying to hang in there, my knights were bad and my King was weak."

Playing Black on board four, Gukesh traded off his dark-squared bishop early to damage Donchenko's pawn structure, then spent the middlegame repositioning knights and pushing a queenside pawn majority, according to chessbase.in. Donchenko doubled rooks on the e-file and pushed one to e6, forcing Gukesh's king to f7 for safety. By time control it looked like White was winning.

The turning point came on move 45, when Gukesh set a trap with h3. Donchenko took the bait, grabbing the pawn with his rook and handing Black the counterplay Gukesh needed. Gukesh then found 51.Nf4, a tactic that sent Donchenko's king scrambling into the corner. Donchenko resigned within four moves, according to Hindustan Times, visibly stunned.

"Somehow all the tricks worked for me," Gukesh said afterward.

With the win banked, teammates R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, who had been pressing for advantages on boards one and two, shut their games down and took draws against Vincent Keymer and Matthias Bluebaum. Nihal Sarin also drew with Frederik Svane on board three, after Svane reportedly misplayed a critical moment by choosing Qf1 over Qf2, according to chessbase.in.

Standings Tighten With Two Rounds Left

India now sits at 15 match points in the open section, one point behind leaders Uzbekistan, who beat the United States on the same day, according to Rediff and Times Now. Uzbekistan's win came despite Javokhir Sindarov, who is set to challenge Gukesh for the world championship later this year, losing his individual game to Wesley So. Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Nodirbek Yakubboev sealed the match for the hosts with wins over Fabiano Caruana and Hans Moke Niemann.

Uzbekistan's second team and Armenia are also tied with India at 15 points, per the official standings cited by chessbase.in. Germany, despite Friday's loss, sits at 14 points alongside China, France, Spain, Ukraine and Hungary. India faces Uzbekistan's B team in Saturday's penultimate round.

Women's Team Blows Past Uzbekistan

India's women's team beat host Uzbekistan 3-1 on the same day. Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal won their individual games, while Koneru Humpy and Savitha Shri drew, according to Hindustan Times and Times Now. Vantika, playing White, picked up an early pawn advantage with a tactical queen check that forced material concessions from Nilufarkhon Imomkuzieva, per Amanshanti News, and converted it into a rook endgame win.

China remains the team to catch, sitting at 17 points after a 3-1 win over Armenia, two points clear of India, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, according to Rediff. India and China meet directly in Saturday's penultimate round, a match that will likely decide who finishes on top of the group heading into the final day.

Times Now noted India is close to locking up the Nona Gaprindashvili Cup, awarded for the best combined open-and-women's performance, for a third straight time, regardless of how the medal races finish.

Both Indian teams need results to go their way over the final two rounds to have a realistic shot at gold. The open team's path likely requires a strong result against Uzbekistan's second team on Saturday combined with a Uzbekistan slip against a lower-ranked opponent. The women's team's fate is more direct: beat China on Saturday, and the gold picture opens up heading into Sunday's final round.