World champion Gukesh D gives an autograph to a young fan after winning his third round match at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. (Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE)Eyebrows shot up instantly when the Indian team announced their board order for the upcoming Chess Olympiad. Gukesh Dommaraju has suffered bad form for the past 19 months with a barren, trophy-less stretch extending to him becoming the youngest world champion at the age of 18. But even then, India captain Srinath Narayanan’s decision to place him on the fourth board with Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin ahead of him led to questions about what this decision said about the team management’s faith in Gukesh.On a day he brushed aside Italian grandmaster Sabino Brunello in an imperious display of chess with the black pieces, Gukesh went on the record to explain how the team had decided to put him as the fourth-placed player in the pecking order.“It was my idea. The whole team… we all thought the same thing: that this is the board order that gives us the best chance of winning the tournament,” Gukesh said simply in an interview with FIDE after his round 3 win. “It’s pretty clear that Pragg and Arjun have been in really good shape. And about the world champion playing on board four, if the team needs it I would even rest all the games. We are here playing for India and there’s no player that’s bigger than the country. I’m just happy to do whatever it takes for the team to do well.”In round 2 on Thursday, Gukesh slipped lower than the 2700-rating threshold for the first time in many years in the live ratings after being held to a draw. Talking about the 2nd and 3rd rounds, the world champion said: “I wouldn’t really consider yesterday’s result a disappointment. It was just a very good game by both sides. And my opponent defended well, sometimes you can’t do anything. Today, I did nothing special. I had black pieces again, so I just wanted to play a good game. Luckily my opponent was a bit too creative and I took over.” World champion Gukesh D gives an interview after winning his third round match at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. (Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE)Powered by Gukesh’s victory, the Indians thumped the Italians 3-1 with Pragg and Arjun playing out draws while Nihal Sarin claimed another win.The women’s team continued its imperious form as well, with Vantika Agrawal (board 3) and Savitha Shri (board 4) both claiming their third wins in a row. While Koneru Humpy won on the top board, Divya Deshmukh was held to a draw on board 2.The Indian team had claimed gold two years ago at Budapest losing just once in 44 contests across the four board. They matched that record in the first round itself with Arjun losing.Story continues below this adGukesh explained that the organizational issues that led to the Indians not getting a room for six hours after landing in Samarkand had played a role.“There have been a couple of games that maybe didn’t go our way. Arjun’s first game was very unfortunate but also I think worth mentioning that we had a very hectic travel and then the first day there were organizational issues. The first day was a bit tricky for all of us, but after that, I think we are all rested. Arjun got a room late. We all waited for six hours to get a room. So obviously in the first round, Arjun was just tired and he blundered in the end. But today we had a good match and the team spirit is high.”Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. He primarily writes on chess and Olympic sports, and co-hosts the Game Time podcast, a weekly offering from Express Sports. He also writes a weekly chess column, On The Moves. ... Read More