Chess Olympiad: Nihal Sarin was picked Player of the Day by team after Uzbekistan loss

Bengaluru: Nihal Sarin looked devastated at the board on Monday. He blundered his queen from a winning position, which led to a 1.5-2.5 loss to Uzbekistan. It was India’s first defeat in a team event since 2022.

Hosts Uzbekistan took the sole lead following the win.

When the Indian team sat down to pick its Player of the Day on Monday night, the choice was unanimous: Nihal.

The Player of the Day ritual is one that the Indian team has been following since the 2024 Olympiad, where every day team members pick the player whose contribution they believe stood out. Usually, the honour might naturally follow a win. On Monday, it went to the player who had lost.

India coach Srinath Narayanan explained why in an X post on Tuesday.

“Whilst results do matter, the effort and process matter more,” Srinath wrote. “Results don’t always convey the full story. It doesn’t show the attitude behind.”

Nihal’s game against Nodirbek Yakubboev was the only decisive result in a match between two of the strongest teams in the competition. With Black, the Indian could have chosen caution. A draw would have been respectable and, in a tight team match, easily defensible.

Instead, he went looking for more.

“Nihal played his heart and soul out,” Srinath wrote. “He could have played it safe, stayed solid, and likely, blameless. But he went for it from the word go, despite having Black.”

That ambition gave India perhaps their best opportunity in recent meetings to get the better of Uzbekistan. The two teams had previously proved difficult to separate, with both their previous face-offs in 2022 and 2024 ending in draws. Nihal’s willingness to take risks opened up the possibility of breaking that pattern.

It also eventually cost him.

In a complicated position, Nihal’s 36...Kxg5? allowed Yakubboev to seize the initiative with 38.Ne6+!. After 39.gxh4+, Black’s queen was soon lost and the game slipped away. With the other three boards drawn, Nihal’s defeat decided the match.

It would have been easy, then, to dwell on the mistake. The team chose to go the other way.

India’s dominant 2024 Olympiad triumph, Srinath pointed out, did not arrive in isolation.

“Every great result, including our 2024 Olympiad win, came on the back of years of preparation coupled with earlier struggles and setbacks,” he wrote. “Our result yesterday was a similar stepping stone towards some great result in the future.”

In 2022, it was reigning world champion D Gukesh who blundered against Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov from a winning position and lost a game in a match that decided the gold medal. Uzbekistan became Olympiad champions that year and India’s turn arrived in 2024. Soon after, Gukesh became world champion.

“The result didn’t go our way yesterday,” Srinath wrote. “But I am sure Nihal will win us many medals in both the near, and distant future.”

In Wednesday’s Round 7 face-offs, India Open team plays England while the women play Germany.