New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- In a major incident, the Indian chess team was left stranded for over five years after their arrival in Samarkand, a city in southeastern Uzbekistan. The Indian team travelled to Uzbekistan for the 46th Chess Olympiad, which begins on Wednesday, and were left without hotel rooms.

The development came to limelight after Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan took to social media to raise the issue. "Having a terrible experience at the @FIDE_chess 2026 Olympiad. The team landed 5 hours ago at Samarkand airport," GM Narayanan posted on X.

"The team still haven't been allotted rooms, with absolutely no clarity on when it'll be allotted," he added. Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi also expressed his disappointment over the situation....