Chess Olympiad: Indian men beat Thailand, women sweep Dominican Republic

Nihal was the first Indian to win, defeating Thanadon Kulpruethanon, before Gukesh produced a brilliant attacking display to beat Faris Rashid Alriyami

World champion D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi registered convincing victories but Arjun Erigaisi's late collapse cost India a clean sweep as the men's team began its campaign at the 46th World Chess Olympiad with a 3-1 win over Thailand here on Wednesday.

Nihal was the first Indian to win, defeating Thanadon Kulpruethanon, before Gukesh produced a brilliant attacking display to beat Faris Rashid Alriyami. Vidit then completed a comfortable victory over Tupfah Khumnorkaew.

Arjun, however, went down to Prin Laohawirapap after being in a position of strength for much of the game.

Playing with the white pieces, Arjun missed a huge advantage in the latter stages of the middlegame and was eventually dragged into the sixth hour.

Laohawirapap, a 20-year-old, held his nerve despite running short of time and capitalised on Arjun's final blunder. With checkmate imminent, Arjun resigned.