Gukesh on Board 4: Top-board gold medallist in last two Olympiads faces new challenge

Defending champions and top seeds Team India have sprang a big surprise even though it’s backed by current form and rating logic. Whether that was needed or would necessarily hamper the planning of their chief Olympiad rivals is the big question.D Gukesh, who had amassed 18 points in 21 games and two individual gold medals on the top board in the last two editions, has been assigned to play on the fourth board in the biennial team event at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, that began on Wednesday. R Praggnanandhaa (2761), Arjun Erigaisi (2759) and Nihal Sarin (2718) will play on the top three boards.Some surprise element was expected in India’s board order as captain N Srinath did not reveal his cards till 11pm on Tuesday night.To get designated on the fourth board is an unprecedented situation for the reigning world champion (Gukesh) in the history of Olympiad. But then Gukesh has an intense relationship with the unprecedented - becoming the classical matchplay world champion at age 18 and then slipping to Elo 2702 and outside world’s top-30 two years later. That included some wooden spoons in elite events too.Thankfully, Gukesh and the inform Praggnanandhaa, who skipped the exhibition-like GCL in Bengaluru that ended on Sunday, have got more rest than the majority of other elite players. Pragg on the top board is an interesting prospect too.It is unclear if India arrived at the board order as a strategy - to play Arjun in the top half and Gukesh in the bottom half (very different from the last Olympiad) - or, if the players and captain Srinath failed to reach a consensus and followed the Elo rating sequence. “No comments on the board order now,” Srinath told TOI. “Team is motivated and upbeat. Delay in getting rooms was quite unfair and upsetting. But it’s behind us and we will focus on chess now.”Two years ago, Srinath was more than ready to explain his decision to demote Arjun to the third board and promote Pragg to the second. Seven-time Olympian Praveen Thipsay said, “If I was playing a strong tournament or a strong match that Gukesh is playing (World Championship against Sindarov in Geneva from Nov 24), I would prefer my preceding tournament (to be) against stronger opponents so that I am ready for the big challenge ahead.“But my personality may not be like that of Gukesh. In the present scenario (playing on board 4), even if Gukesh scores successive wins in the initial five-six rounds, more than the wins, the manner of his wins and quality of play will determine if he regains the valuable confidence or not."Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.