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The sport was recently adopted by Indian chess. It was all witnessed by us. The gold medals won at the Olympiad. Tournament chaos for the Candidates. The behemoth World Championship victory for D Gukesh
https://worldchess.com/news/new-chess-rivalry-how-uzbekistan-has-disrupted-indias-chess-ascent
It seemed as if the game was going to change forever.
It’s a different story in the 2026 season. The trio of Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, who broke the internet back in 2024 and 2025 is hitting an extremely rough patch.
Check out the latest tournaments. The cracks are right here.
Is the King’s Gambit worth everything?Is the King’s Gambit worth everything?
Gukesh is the reigning World Champion. That’s just a big bull’s eye on his forehead! All of the players sitting around the board want to defeat the king
So far, at the 2026 Norway Chess tournament, it seems like things are bad. He’s in the bottom of the standings.
Think about that. Last place.
During round six, he lost his classical game to Vincent Keymer. Then came round seven. He was in a completely winning position against Wesley So in the classical time control. Wesley sacrificed a pawn out of the opening. It was one of those Attack Marshall things. Gukesh did a flawless job of it. He got the edge. His victory would have turned the tide in the tournament. He was incapable of conversion, however. It was unmistakable that he lost the lead in an unrefined middlegame. He was forced to take an Armageddon victory. This does just about nothing to help in the Norway Chess format
It exhibits a trend of missed opportunities. Indeed, having the world title exposes you to a thousandfold more media attention. Every slight inaccuracy is magnified on the broadcasts. Using the supercomputer, opponents prepare for his closing in opposition to his move twenty-five. He is constantly forced into the very same circumstances from which he suffered last year, when he needs to be absolutely precise in his endgame. The clock does not seem to be his ally these days.
This alters the way opponents play against him. They play safer. They wait for him to make a mistake.
The competition between Praggnanandhaa and the Yo-Yo Effect.
Praggnanandhaa has a slightly other challenge. He’s not completely falling apart. The consistancy he was known for is gone.
One day, he plays like a pro. The very next day, he collapses.
Consider the most recent event in Oslo, Norway called the Norway Chess. He just gave Alireza Firouzja a big classical defeat on his arm in round seven. A brilliant clean win over one of the most astute tacticians of the day. But in the run-up to that game? He lost to Wesley So twice in row.
Even in round 5, he lost an all India board battle against Gukesh, who dominated the board for hours. He was in the driver’s seat. He was able to force Gukesh into uncomfortable defending positions. Then he released the clock’s blood. When it came to time trouble, Pragg broke. He blundered his advantage. That gave the World Champion the opportunity to take the win by storm.
A performance of this kind is exhausting the yo-yo. If you are constantly losing, you can’t go up the rating ladder. In top-end games, draws are the coin of peace. Pragg is playing very good chess. Sometimes does produce results. It makes him also extremely vulnerable. He suffers greatly if it goes wrong.
Arjun Erigaisi Hits a Speed Bump
As far as the other two were concerned, Arjun’s reputation was all but made up of other people’s. He played everything! Open tournaments. Rapid events. Strange online formats. He was a monster, playing countless games against all opponents.
Rest is for all.
He began hot at the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament earlier this year. He had a brutal victory over Zhu Jiner (67 moves) to secure the only lead going into the final round. He is a tied for first place in the classical section with Magnus Carlsen. That sounds great. Next came the blitz tiebreaks. He suffered a 2-1 defeat to Carlsen and came up dead last to lose the tournament.
Next watch the latest episode of the India Rising: Road to EWC playoffs. It was a tough closed stage after a grueling nine-round Swiss qualification. It was meant to be the direct access to the Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris. He came in at world 11. He was the clear-cut favorite to win the entire bracket. Rather, he was beaten early in a fierce battle by Dutch Grandmaster Benjamin Bok.
Arjun plays so many games that it may be finally affecting him. Calculating six-hour classical games, you can cross time zones and sleep in random hotel beds only for so long. After a while, the brain needs a rest.
The Cost of Being Elite
It is a tremendous difference to aspire to the top than it is to maintain the top.
That’s when they were the underdogs a few years ago. They might throw lemons at veteran players.They might throw unexpected starts at older players. There was no one with a large database of analysis of their pet lines.
They’re now the establishment.
Even super-grandmasters such as Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So are getting used to them. They are very familiar with how the Indian trio likes to play. They force them into slow Rhymes that never catch on, just positional grinds. They’re purposefully wasting time on the clock.
There’s the schedule as well. It is punishing. Norway Chess. EWC Qualifiers. Sigeman. They play back-to-back events all day long.
The downward trend of 2026 is mostly due to statistical forces of gravity. They have raised their ratings to the astronomical for the past two years and keeping them high will necessitate a lot of craziness going on in the win column. A draw will typically cost your rating points. A loss is a statistical disaster.
The truth on the topic board!Truth on the topic board!
Not a single player in the chess world is sounding the red alert. However, the battle is very apparent on every front.
Gukesh is lacking in easy conversions. Pragg is stepping out from his draws with a back-to-back. Arjun is not securing enticing tie-breaks in matches that he dominated so comfortably.
The Indian chess spring seems to have turned winter.
Age is no longer a deterrent for opponents. The preparation is more in-depth. There’s more pressure.
