2026 Chess Olympiad Round 8: Germany Ends Uzbekistan's Streak; China Leads Women's

Germany Ends Uzbekistan's Streak; China Grabs Women's Lead As Savitha Saves India

Germany ended Uzbekistan's streak of 7/7 match wins in round eight of the 46th Chess Olympiad 2026 after winning their encounter 2.5-1.5. As in the previous round, the brothers GM Frederik Svane and GM Rasmus Svane scored points on the bottom two boards, this time against GMs Nodirbek Yakubboev and Shamsiddin Vokhidov—overcoming the one loss on board two in GM Javokhir Sindarov vs. GM Matthias Bluebaum. Uzbekistan and Germany share the lead on 14/16, with eight countries a point behind.

China has taken the sole lead in the 2026 FIDE Women's Chess Olympiad after WGM Zhai Mo found a dramatic checkmating attack against IM Lela Javakhishvili. Kazakhstan looked set to join China when IM Alua Nurman beat GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, but Indian hero IM Savitha Shri moved to 7/7 by winning a drawish endgame against WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet to rescue a 2-2 draw. The U.S. lost 2.5-1.5 to Armenia, who are joined by Mongolia and Kazakhstan just a point behind China.

Round nine is on Friday, September 25, starting at 6:15 a.m. ET / 12:15 CEST / 3:45 p.m. IST.

Open: Germany Stops Uzbekistan

Germany won the most important match of the day against the juggernaut Uzbekistan.

Round 8 Results | Open Top 10

Full results

Uzbekistan joins Germany on 14/16, but there are eight more teams that have renewed hope of scoring big in the final three rounds.

Open Standings After Round 8: Top 20

# Seed Fed Team + = - Points TB1 TB2 1 3 Uzbekistan 7 0 1 14 241.5 24 2 5 Germany 7 0 1 14 208 21.5 3 4 China 6 1 1 13 214.5 22 4 6 Netherlands 6 1 1 13 208.5 21.5 5 7 Azerbaijan 5 3 0 13 204.5 22 6 1 United States of America 6 1 1 13 202.5 21.5 7 2 India 6 1 1 13 202 20.5 8 9 France 5 3 0 13 195.5 22 9 10 Armenia 5 3 0 13 195.5 21 10 30 Uzbekistan 2 6 1 1 13 184 20.5 11 19 Greece 6 0 2 12 184 21.5 12 14 Turkiye 6 0 2 12 183 21 13 13 Spain 6 0 2 12 180.5 21.5 14 20 Czech Republic 5 2 1 12 180 21 15 12 Ukraine 6 0 2 12 179.5 21 16 29 Georgia 5 2 1 12 175 22 17 28 Bulgaria 6 0 2 12 168.5 20.5 18 27 Austria 5 2 1 12 167 20.5 19 31 Brazil 5 2 1 12 161 19.5 20 8 Hungary 5 2 1 12 148.5 16.5

The previous report started with a question—who will stop or slow down Uzbekistan?—and Germany answered the very next day. The Svane brothers not only inflicted Uzbekistan's first match loss—Uzbekistan hadn't even lost on an individual board until round eight.

Moreover, Germany is the only team to have played and beaten all three Uzbek teams in this event (rounds one, two, and eight). To borrow a term, they have proven to be quite the angstgegner (a bogey team, nemesis, or most feared opponent) for the hosting nation. The nation has not medaled since winning silver in 2000, but their chances of doing so this year have dramatically increased.

Germany upset the 2022 gold medalists. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

As Rasmus Svane told Chess.com, he doesn't remember the last time Germany scored such an important win.

"I can't remember such a huge win and such a good position for our team. With three rounds to go, we have all the chances in the world!" - Rasmus Svane after scoring a win vs. Uzbekistan on board four.#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/K4VPe8AiRn — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 24, 2026

His board was the first to reach a decisive position, and from there the two teams had to adjust. Black's 15...Nf4 was the move that startled Vokhidov, who spent three of his 52 minutes to play the losing move 16.Be4??, when indeed 16.Qf3 existed and the tactics worked for White. Thanks to the "extremely lucky" blunder (per Rasmus Svane), Black won a clean exchange for nothing.

At this point, the brother Frederik Svane said he didn't know whether to play for a win or a draw on board three, especially as his position was extremely unclear. He said, "I had no idea what was going on, but it kind of looked good for me because all my pieces were developed." Ultimately, he launched a kingside attack that promised an advantage after the desperado 16.Nxf7!. With this win, he sits at a 2811 performance and is the highest board three performer in the tournament with 6.5/8.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.

Uzbekistan now needed two wins to equalize the match. Sindarov was winning against Bluebaum, but GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov had a pawn-down endgame and no chance at all to defeat GM Vincent Keymer. He was, in fact, fortunate even to hold the draw as the match was beyond saving. Sindarov won a nice heavy-piece endgame with equal pawns but a much safer king.

You can watch GM Peter Svidler's recap of the entire match in the 10-minute recap video below.

Sindarov's performance rating of 2864 is impressive, but it's not the highest on board two. GM Jorden van Foreest is on 6.5/7 with an incredible 2972 performance, the highest in the tournament so far on any board. The Netherlands drew Armenia 2-2 after Van Foreest's win against GM Robert Hovhannisyan canceled out the loss on board three in GM Loek van Wely vs. GM Shant Sargsyan.

Jorden van Foreest is the best player on board two. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Hovhannisyan played an interesting exchange sacrifice, but things turned around when he captured the pawn on d4 with his knight. Van Foreest found a forcing way to break through on the queenside and even underpromoted to a knight on his way to winning the game.

Both Armenia and the Netherlands are among the teams on 13 points, and we saw another draw between India vs. Azerbaijan after all four games ended in draws. In the last game to end, GM Gukesh Dommaraju had, according to the engine, a winning endgame (with equal material) against GM Mahammad Muradli on board three, but didn't make progress and settled for a draw.

Gukesh did not make the most of his chances on board three. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The U.S. put up a monstrous 3.5-0.5 score against Serbia to stay in the hunt for gold, with wins by GMs Fabiano Caruana, Hans Niemann, and Awonder Liang (his second win in a row) against GMs Alexey Sarana, Aleksandar Indjic, and Velimir Ivic.

The best story was on board two, where Niemann was following a game of GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Magnus Carlsen in 2017—except that allowing the exchange sacrifice on a3, just like Carlsen did, is a mistake! White was better out of the opening, but Niemann managed nevertheless to sacrifice his queen and outplay his opponent in the middlegame.

Aronian told Chess.com that, of course, he recognized the game, and also understood that Niemann was repeating Carlsen's mistakes. "I think he just got lucky that his opponent didn't know the line," said Aronian as Niemann walked past the interview.

Mike: "But [Hans] turned it around. What does that explain about his resilience in the event?"

Levon: "I think he just got lucky his opponent didn't know the line!" (as Hans walks by the interview)#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/Mm0ik7bybI — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 24, 2026

Caruana, by the way, won with a beautiful queen trap.

With one win by GM Wei Yi against GM Szymon Gumularz on board two, and draws on the rest of the boards, China defeated Poland 2.5-1.5 to reach the same score of 13. Wei, who currently has a 2842 performance rating, finished his game with a petite (and very temporary) queen sacrifice.

Finally, Uzbekistan 2 is the last team on 13 points, after a tight win over England 2.5-1.5, with GM Khumoyun Begmuratov scoring the one win on board four against GM Daniel Fernandez.

There are nine teams on 12 points, with Turkiye having the best tiebreaks. They beat Canada 2.5-1.5, and their board one GM Yagiz Erdogmus so far has the best performance among the top board players, a 2893 TPR, at the age of 15.

On Friday, third seed Uzbekistan will play the top seed U.S., while Germany, the other team on 14 points, faces India. It's sure to be one of the top-three critical rounds in the tournament.

Round 9 Pairings: Top 10 Open

# Seed Fed Team Pts MP Res : Res MP Pts Team Fed Seed 1 3 Uzbekistan *) 24 14 : 13 21½ United States of America 1 2 2 India 20½ 13 : 14 21½ Germany 5 3 9 France 22 13 : 13 22 China 4 4 30 Uzbekistan 2 20½ 13 : 13 21½ Netherlands 6 5 7 Azerbaijan 22 13 : 13 21 Armenia 10 6 8 Hungary 16½ 12 : 12 20½ Austria 27 7 29 Georgia 22 12 : 12 21 Ukraine 12 8 13 Spain 21½ 12 : 12 21 Czech Republic 20 9 28 Bulgaria 20½ 12 : 12 21 Turkiye 14 10 31 Brazil 19½ 12 : 12 21½ Greece 19

Women: China Grabs Sole Lead As Savitha Saves India With 7/7

It was incredibly tight at the top in round eight, with almost all matches decided by a single game.

China has taken the sole lead, with only six teams now within two points.

Women's Standings After Round 8: Top 20

# Seed Fed Team + = - Points TB1 TB2 1 4 China 7 1 0 15 239.5 25 2 3 Kazakhstan 6 2 0 14 224 22.5 3 16 Armenia 7 0 1 14 202 22.5 4 15 Mongolia 7 0 1 14 190.5 21.5 5 1 India 6 1 1 13 243.5 24 6 13 Uzbekistan 6 1 1 13 204.5 23 7 24 Greece 6 1 1 13 167 21 8 8 France 6 0 2 12 220 24 9 11 Bulgaria 6 0 2 12 214.5 23.5 10 2 Georgia 5 2 1 12 206 22 11 9 Poland 6 0 2 12 189 21 12 14 Serbia 5 2 1 12 181 21.5 13 10 Germany 6 0 2 12 178 19.5 14 35 Indonesia 6 0 2 12 175 22 15 38 Canada 5 2 1 12 172 23 16 21 Vietnam 6 0 2 12 169 21.5 17 27 Cuba 5 2 1 12 159.5 20 18 5 United States of America 5 1 2 11 199 22.5 19 20 England 5 1 2 11 196.5 23.5 20 41 Estonia 5 1 2 11 191 24

The top-four seeds clashed in round eight of the Women's Chess Olympiad, with fourth seed China grabbing a crucial win over second seed Georgia. Three games were drawn, with the match decided by a spectacular win on the bottom board for Zhai, who at 30 is the "veteran" on the Chinese team and a player who already has an Olympiad team gold medal from the 2018 edition.

Zhai Mo proved the hero for China. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

She pounced when Javakhishvili, Georgia's hero in round seven, grabbed a poisoned piece in a fantastically complicated position.

GM Bella Khotenashvili was the only player who looked to have some chances of leveling the score, but the youngest player on the Chinese team, 16-year-old IM Lu Miaoyi, had everything under control in the endgame—giving up two pawns to create a fortress.

Lu Miaoyi is currently on course for an individual gold medal on board three—she held a crucial draw against Bella Khotenashvili. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

The other leader, Kazakhstan, was facing India, and looked to be joining China on 15 points after Nurman beat Vaishali in a wild game where both players had under a minute on their clock by move 27.

At first it all looked over for India when Vaishali resigned against Nurman. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

When the dust settled and Kazakhstan took the lead, there seemed to be no hope of recovery, since two of the remaining boards were drawn and Savitha was, if anything, worse against Kaliakhmet.

It's just been the 19-year-old Savitha's Olympiad, however, and she went on to squeeze out an incredible seventh win in seven—taking her above 2400 on the live rating list and, more importantly, rescuing a match point for India.

So far the streak shows no sign of stopping.

51...Rb7? was the losing move, but the position had already become tricky, with Black needing to give up a pawn to survive.

That kept India two points behind China, while Kazakhstan is a point behind. They're joined by two teams—15th seed Mongolia, who beat fellow underdogs Bulgaria after a single win for WGM Turmunkh Munkhzul over WGM Nadya Toncheva, and 16th seed Armenia, who dealt another huge blow to the U.S. team's chances.

Lilit Mkrtchian vs. Carissa Yip on top board for Armenia vs. the U.S. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

That match was decided by a single win for GM Elina Danielian over GM Irina Krush, and could easily have been a heavier defeat with IM Carissa Yip in deep trouble for most of the round against IM Lilit Mkrtchian. Nevertheless, it ultimately turned on two crazy time-trouble moments. Krush had been losing but fought her way right back into the game, before a fatal mistake on move 40.

The other moment was on move 39 of a game where IM Tatev Abrahamyan had also been struggling against WIM Susanna Gaboyan. The position had simplified until 38...Rd1?? was played as a way to swap off pieces, bringing a draw closer.

Abrahamyan, still in the running for a medal on board four, thought for a minute and then, with 40 seconds on her clock, swapped off rooks on d1—when she could have won a piece and the game on the spot!

The U.S. team is now four points off the pace set by China, with a mountain to climb.

Tsolakidou led Greece to victory, putting them right in the hunt for medals. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

Meanwhile, a mere two points behind China are two other teams level with India: Greece, who defeated Ukraine 2.5-1.5, with IM Stavroula Tsolakidou on top board becoming the first player to beat WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn; and host nation Uzbekistan, who powered to a 3-1 win over the Netherlands.

The Uzbek open team may have suffered its first defeat, but the Uzbek women are looking stronger by the round. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Uzbekistan next faces India, while leader China gets the over-performing Armenian team. Kazakhstan will be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Mongolia. With only three rounds to go, every match at the top will be crucial.

Round 9 Pairings: Women's Top 10

# Seed FED Team Pts MP Res : Res MP Pts Team FED Seed 1 1 India 24 13 : 13 23 Uzbekistan *) 13 2 4 China 25 15 : 14 22½ Armenia 16 3 15 Mongolia 21½ 14 : 14 22½ Kazakhstan 3 4 2 Georgia 22 12 : 13 21 Greece 24 5 8 France 24 12 : 12 21½ Serbia 14 6 9 Poland 21 12 : 12 20 Cuba 27 7 35 Indonesia 22 12 : 12 19½ Germany 10 8 11 Bulgaria 23½ 12 : 12 21½ Vietnam 21 9 5 United States of America 22½ 11 : 12 23 Canada 38 10 36 Czech Republic 21 11 : 11 21 Azerbaijan 7

Colin McGourty contributed to this report.

The 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad is a massive team event for national federations that takes place every two years. In 2026 it's being held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with 11 rounds that run September 16-27. In Open and Women's sections, teams of five players compete in a Swiss system, with each match played over four boards. There are two match points for a win and one for a draw, with board points taken into account only if teams are tied. Players have 90 minutes per game, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move.

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