In the open section, the top four teams have average ratings above 2700: the United States, India, Uzbekistan and China.
Free video sample:Free video sample:In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen.
The highest-rated players in Samarkand are Fabiano Caruana (United States), Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), Wesley So (United States), Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan).
World numbers one and two, Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Hikaru Nakamura (United States), are absent.
This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM.
A colossal field descends on Samarkand
The 46th edition of the Chess Olympiad kicked off in Samarkand with 206 teams in the open section and 190 teams in the women's section. Both tournaments are 11-round Swiss team events, with teams competing on four boards in each round and each squad also including a reserve player.
Six rounds will be played on consecutive days until next Monday. Tuesday will be a rest day, before five more rounds are played from Wednesday through Sunday, 27 September.
In the open section, the top four teams have average ratings above 2700: the United States, India, Uzbekistan and China. The teams seeded 5th through 16th all have averages above 2600.
Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career.
Free video sample:
Free video sample:
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career.Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section
The same four teams also entered the previous Olympiad as the four favourites, although China were seeded third and Uzbekistan fourth in 2024. They went on to occupy the top four places in the final standings. India won gold with an impressive 21/22 match points, the United States took silver, Uzbekistan bronze and China finished fourth.
The highest-rated players in Samarkand are Fabiano Caruana (United States), Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), Wesley So (United States), Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan). World numbers one and two, Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Hikaru Nakamura (United States), are absent.
Wesley So in good spirits after meeting representatives from the Philippines, his home country | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
Ding Liren is playing on board one for China | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is playing on the fourth board for defending champions India - he played on board three in round one, since Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was not in the lineup on Wednesday | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2 Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more! Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
The delegation from Burundi | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
The delegation from Fiji | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Top 30 teams all win
The top 30 seeds all scored match victories in the opening round. Notably, 17 of them won 4–0, 8 obtained 3½–½ victories and 4 prevailed by a 3–1 score.
Only Hungary, seeded 8th, were pushed to the smallest possible winning margin among the top 30 teams. They defeated 110th-seeded Malta by 2½–1½.
The only upset in terms of match results came on board 31, where Botswana, seeded 133rd, drew with 31st-seeded Brazil. Providence Oatlhotse (Botswana, 2230) defeated Alexandr Fier (Brazil, 2537), while Mogotsi Mothudi (Botswana, 1914) beat Roberto Molina (Brazil, 2390).
Remarkably, no other lower-rated team managed to defeat its higher-rated opponent in the first round.
On board 21, Israel recorded a 4–0 victory over Pakistan after the Pakistani team decided not to face their opponents and forfeited all four boards.
Oatlhotse 1-0 Fier
Things quickly went wrong for Fier out of a Queen's Gambit Declined. By move 19, Oatlhotse already had a clear advantage, and the IM from Botswana spent 25 minutes before playing the formidable 19.d6!
There followed 19...Qf7 20.Nb5, threatening both Nb5-c7+ or Nb5xd6+ if Black captures the pawn on d6. After 20...0-0 21.Nxc7 Rb8 22.0-0 Bf5 23.Nc5 Kh8 24.Qxf7 Nxf7 25.Rfd1 White had a clear advantage with the far-advanced passer on the d-file.
Your Calculation Compass: Know When to Calculate In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video:
Free sample video:
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.Free sample video: Introduction Free sample video: Invisible moves
Mogotsi Arnold Mothudi from Botswana scored a crucial win over Roberto Molina on board four | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Individual upsets
A number of strong grandmasters were held to draws by much lower-rated opponents. The highest-rated among them was Levon Aronian (United States, 2725), who only managed a draw with black against Ali Ehsan Aryan (Iraq, 2163).
Four players rated above 2500 even lost their games. Most notably, Arjun Erigaisi (India, 2759) was defeated by Prin Laohawirapap (Thailand, 2363).
Benjamin Gledura (Hungary, 2610) lost to Matthew Portelli (Malta, 2187), Felix Blohberger (Austria, 2552) was defeated by Ahmad Abdel Wahab (Palestine, 2066), and Khumoyun Begmuratov (Uzbekistan 2, 2514) lost to Homayoun Mohtaat (Afghanistan, 1928).
Uzbekistan, as the host nation, is fielding three teams in each section.
Ali Ehsan Aryan from Iraq facing Levon Aronian from the United States | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Erigaisi 0-1 Laohawirapap
In the late middlegame, Erigaisi had a clear edge in a position with queens, rooks and a minor piece per side. The Indian star then gave up his advantage and entered an objectively equal ending with queens and rooks and an extra pawn. Finally, he blundered with 50.Qg7??
The only move that keeps the balance here is 50.Qf4, when 50...Qh1+?! (as was played in the game) is no good for Black, since the king will find refuge and White will get to make the most of his extra pawn. Still, after 50...Re4 51.Rf1 Qc3+ in this line, Black would get to keep things under control.
Instead, after 50.Qg7?? Black got to play the combination 50...Qh1+ 51.Kg4 Re4+ 52.Rf4 Qd1+ 53.Kg3 (53.Kg5 fails to 53...Rxe5+) Qg1+ 54.Kh3 Re3+ and Erigaisi resigned.
A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2 This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered. This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.
There is checkmate in two on the board. A memorable win for Laohawirapap and the chess enthusiasts in Thailand!
At this point, Arjun Erigaisi still had the upper hand against Prin Laohawirapap | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
Round 1 recap by GM Felix Blohberger
Round 2 pairings
No. SNo FED Team Pts. MP : MP Pts. Team FED SNo 1 3 UZB Uzbekistan *) 4 2 : 2 4 Peru PER 53 2 1 USA United States 3½ 2 : 2 4 Mongolia MGL 51 3 52 INA Indonesia 4 2 : 2 3 India IND 2 4 54 CHI Chile 4 2 : 2 4 China CHN 4 5 5 GER Germany 4 2 : 2 3½ Uzbekistan 3 UZB 55 6 56 MKD North Macedonia 4 2 : 2 3 Netherlands NED 6 7 7 AZE Azerbaijan 4 2 : 2 4 Philippines PHI 57 8 58 COL Colombia 4 2 : 2 2½ Hungary HUN 8 9 9 FRA France 4 2 : 2 4 Bosnia & Herzegovina BIH 59 10 60 SCO Scotland 4 2 : 2 4 Armenia ARM 10 11 11 ENG England 4 2 : 2 4 Tajikistan TJK 61 12 62 EST Estonia 3½ 2 : 2 3½ Ukraine UKR 12 13 13 ESP Spain 3½ 2 : 2 3 Uruguay URU 63 14 64 BAN Bangladesh 3½ 2 : 2 4 Turkiye TUR 14 15 15 SRB Serbia 3½ 2 : 2 4 Turkmenistan TKM 65 16 66 IRL Ireland 4 2 : 2 4 Poland POL 16 17 17 CRO Croatia 4 2 : 2 4 Malaysia MAS 67 18 68 BOL Bolivia 3½ 2 : 2 4 Iran IRI 18 19 19 GRE Greece 3½ 2 : 2 4 Egypt EGY 69 20 70 PAR Paraguay 2½ 2 : 2 4 Czech Republic CZE 20 21 21 NOR Norway 4 2 : 2 3½ New Zealand NZL 71 22 22 ISR Israel 4 2 : 2 4 Albania ALB 72 23 23 ROU Romania 3½ 2 : 2 4 Costa Rica CRC 73 24 74 KOR South Korea 4 2 : 2 4 Argentina ARG 24 25 25 DEN Denmark 3½ 2 : 2 4 Mexico MEX 75 26 76 JPN Japan 4 2 : 2 4 Italy ITA 26 27 27 AUT Austria 3 2 : 2 4 South Africa RSA 77 28 78 VEN Venezuela 4 2 : 2 3½ Bulgaria BUL 28 29 29 GEO Georgia 4 2 : 2 4 Kyrgyzstan KGZ 79 30 80 ALG Algeria 3½ 2 : 2 3 Uzbekistan 2 UZB 30
...105 boards
All games
