Uzbekistan, China Win 2026 Samarkand Chess Olympiad Gold

🥇 Uzbekistan, China Both Win To Clinch Olympiad Gold

Uzbekistan has won its second Olympiad gold, this time on home soil, in the 46th Chess Olympiad 2026 in Samarkand. GM Mukhiddin Madaminov was the last-day hero, winning a sharp clash with GM Roman Dehtiarov in a 2.5-1.5 win over Ukraine. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost to Hungary's GM Gleb Dudin, but a win for GM Arjun Erigaisi over GM Peter Leko gave India a match draw and silver medals. Germany clinched a highly-deserved podium spot with a 2.5-1.5 win over the Netherlands after GM Matthias Bluebaum defeated GM Jorden van Foreest.

China cruised to a seventh 2026 FIDE Women's Chess Olympiad gold as GM Zhu Jiner and IM Lu Miaoyi won their final games to also wrap up individual gold medals in a 3-1 win over Vietnam. The battle to complete the podium was intense, with Kazakhstan taking silver after a 2-2 draw with Poland, while India snatched bronze when IM Savitha Shri rescued a 2-2 draw by escaping a lost position against Georgia's IM Meri Arabidze. The U.S., Poland, Armenia, and Mongolia all finished level on points with India, but missed out on tiebreaks.

Open: Uzbekistan Wins 2nd Olympiad

Uzbekistan completed a near perfect Olympiad with a convincing win over Ukraine. India-Hungary was the only 2-2 draw at the top, but even a win for India wouldn't have been enough for gold.

Final Round Results | Open Top 10

Full results

Uzbekistan finished two points ahead of India and Germany, with India coming out on top on tiebreaks to take silver.

Final Standings: Open Top 20

Uzbekistan went into the final round of the Olympiad knowing another match win—their 10th of the event—would guarantee gold medals whatever happened elsewhere. On paper that looked relatively easy, against 12th seed Ukraine, but the team led by GM Igor Kovalenko had beaten China a day earlier, and even had an outside chance of gold medals themselves.

They gave Uzbekistan a scare or two before the Olympiad victory was sealed with a 2.5-1.5 win.

World championship challenger GM Javokhir Sindarov, for instance, shocked our commentary team by thinking for 44 minutes before putting his knight on the rim and allowing chess legend GM Vasyl Ivanchuk to pick up the b5-pawn with a simple sequence of exchanges.

The position Ivanchuk could have got by force.

Ivanchuk didn't go for that, but still got a position GM Judit Polgar described as "deadly dangerous" for Black, before White's edge fizzled out and, toward the end, if anything it looked more like Sindarov who had winning chances.

Abdusattorov doesn't look entirely convinced by Sindarov's play vs. Ivanchuk. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

Emotions were running high, with Sindarov afterward reflecting with FM Mike Klein that this is already his second Olympiad victory before the age of 21.

Javokhir Sindarov: "Finally we won—I won a 2nd #ChessOlympiad before I became 21 so I'm very happy!" pic.twitter.com/WeuiWZf0wd — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

He's also a World Cup and Candidates winner, while he commented, "Everybody knows my next job!" when asked about his next goal—if he's going to win the world championship by the age of 21, he has to do that by game 11, however, since his birthday is on December 8, when game 12 will be played.

GM Nodirbek Yakubboev vs. GM Ihor Samunenkov was a solid draw, played out to bare kings on move 52, which has some consequences for individual medals.

Kovalenko supporting Samunenkov before the games began. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

17-year-old Samunenkov took an unexpected gold on board four, just ahead of Gukesh...

Board 4 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 GM Ihor Samunenkov 2608 Ukraine 2720 10 2 GM Gukesh Dommaraju 2703 India 2718 11 3 GM Levon Aronian 2725 United States of America 2699 8 4 GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi 2612 France 2695 10 5 GM Luke McShane 2598 England 2648 10

...while Yakubboev took silver on board three, just behind GM Frederik Svane.

Board 3 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 GM Frederik Svane 2655 Germany 2796 11 2 GM Nodirbek Yakubboev 2685 Uzbekistan 2774 10 3 GM Shant Sargsyan 2630 Armenia 2745 11 4 IM Quoc Hy Nguyen 2428 Vietnam 2720 10 5 GM Mahammad Muradli 2653 Azerbaijan 2709 11

The key game of the match, however, was on bottom board, where Madaminov took on 18-year-old European Champion Dehtiarov. There was fire on the board from the start, with Madaminov later admitting he was worried.

David Howell on Dehtiarov-Madaminov in the crucial Ukraine-Uzbekistan match: "I think both players smell blood—they smell medals, for sure!"https://t.co/33XmHo8JnQ#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/NEiVO5pEMZ — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

Often such sharp openings fizzle out, and this one seemed to be heading for a drawish rook endgame, but Madaminov took over and, although he missed his first clear win...

Drama as Madaminov plays 35...c6 instead of the winning 35...c5! #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/pLqD8NRUuG — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

...he did get there in the end to win our Game of the Day. GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed it below.

Madaminov gets a huge hug from team captain Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

Madaminov delighted home fans. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

Madaminov was a fitting hero, since he was the one player in the Uzbek team not yet to have won the Olympiad. He promised more to come.

Uzbekistan hero Mukhiddin Madaminov: "We played this tournament very well, all players performed fantastic, so that's why I'm very happy to be part of this team, and it's not our last gold medal... we'll try our best & we'll achieve more & more results!" #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/VA5wicXgXa — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

By the time Olympiad gold was mathematically confirmed for Uzbekistan, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov was still in action on top board, where he'd carefully massaged an advantage and was a pawn up in a bishop endgame against Kovalenko. It was possible to win, but the path was narrow and missed by Abdusattorov on this occasion.

Abdusattorov is held to a draw by Kovalenko, but it just confirms individual and team gold for the Uzbekistan top board! https://t.co/bQ1YXJmSds#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/LOBwXEoJyf — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

That was a minor disappointment, but you can see Abdusattorov trying to suppress a smile at the end of the game. He didn't hide it much longer.

Abdusattorov was over the moon at the victory. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

He called the team's victory "the proudest moment of my life."

Nodirbek Abdusattorov: "This is the proudest moment in my life!" #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/jNvy4S4v4J — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

Uzbekistan had won in front of its home crowd, while, even with the draw, Abdusattorov took gold on board one with the best performance of the whole event. He played every round, with GMs Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana, and Richard Rapport his highest-profile victims in an unbeaten 8.5/11.

Board 1 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rtg Team Rp Games 1 GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2762 Uzbekistan 2869 11 2 GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus 2716 Turkiye 2839 10 3 GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 2761 India 2772 10 4 GM Amin Tabatabaei 2737 Iran 2759 10 5 GM Denis Lazavik 2621 Belarus 2735 10

That win meant the rest of the field was playing for the remaining two spots on the podium, and it was India, who started the day a point behind Uzbekistan, who ultimately grabbed silver.

The way it happened was a shock, however, with Gukesh, who had revived his fortunes in the event and looked to be cruising to a third Olympiad individual gold medal in a row, losing to Hungary's 21-year-old Dudin.

It's been a good tournament for Gukesh, but it ends on a sour note as he loses to Hungary's Gleb Dudin! https://t.co/vUm63dYwmx#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/OTQNEmXcwQ — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

It was a remarkable game, with the white knights hunting in a pack to pick up the f7-pawn.

As we saw, that denied Gukesh a gold medal on his board (he took silver), but it did give Dudin gold (after IM Asrorjon Omonov fell to defeat while gunning for 8/8).

Board 5 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 GM Gleb Dudin 2560 Hungary 2738 10 2 GM Daniil Yuffa 2570 Spain 2691 9 3 GM Vladimir Hamitevici 2446 Moldova 2617 8 4 GM Radoslav Dimitrov 2475 Bulgaria 2582 10 5 GM Jules Moussard 2602 France 2565 8

No harm was done to India's medal chances, however, since Arjun, who had been uncharacteristically quiet with a loss, a win, and seven draws, struck to beat Leko and rescue a 2-2 draw.

Huge relief for Gukesh as Arjun saves the day. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The Hungarian star was perhaps suffering from starting four hours earlier and went for aggressive pawn pushes that were brutally punished—after 18...h5! White is lost, though it took a long time to prove it.

Hungary finished seventh, one place above its seeding of eighth, while India finished exactly where the seedings predicted—second.

The silver medals came at the expense of Germany, who finished on the podium for the first time in 26 years after another impressive win, this time against the Netherlands.

Giri's aggressive play almost backfired against Keymer. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

It could have been more, since GM Vincent Keymer let a win slip against GM Anish Giri on top board, but the team, the only one to beat Uzbekistan, had only things to be proud of.

Vincent Keymer on Germany likely ending on the podium: "This time we were playing at the top for all tournament and that's something we can be very proud of!" #ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/aa7hj4JOFp — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

That included a last-round win for Bluebaum, who pounced on a one-move blunder by Van Foreest in what should have been a dead-drawn position.

A tough finish for Jorden in Samarkand. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

That was a tough end for the Dutchman, who had claims to be the player of the tournament, but spoiled what should have been a beautiful win in the penultimate round before falling in the last.

That also cost gold on board two, with GM Wei Yi apparently taking that prize on the tiebreak of playing more games after a last-round win—while Sindarov was one performance rating point back in bronze!

Board 2 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 GM Wei Yi 2752 China 2798 10 2 GM Jorden van Foreest 2706 Netherlands 2798 9 3 GM Javokhir Sindarov 2778 Uzbekistan 2797 10 4 GM Wesley So 2774 United States of America 2692 9 5 GM Matthias Bluebaum 2662 Germany 2685 10

Hungary finished one point off the podium, along with Armenia, who beat Croatia 3-1; Azerbaijan, who beat Serbia 2.5-1.5; and the top-seeded U.S. team, who beat Turkiye 3-1 after wins on the bottom two boards for GM Hans Niemann, over GM Isik Can, and GM Levon Aronian, who pulled yet another swindle, this time against GM Emre Can, who collapsed in time trouble.

That gave Aronian bronze on board four, while also seeing the U.S. end on a high after another disappointing Olympiad.

Caruana vs. Erdogmus is a clash of the generations we may see a lot more of in the future. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

A draw with GM Fabiano Caruana, meanwhile, was just the icing on the cake for Turkiye's GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who is now the highest-rated 15-year-old in chess history.

Women: China Wins 7th Olympiad

China's win was very smooth, but the other key matches that decided the podium were 2-2 thrillers.

Round 11 Results | Women's Top 10

Full results

China, like Uzbekistan, finished two points clear, while Kazakhstan took clear silver. India seems to have edged the battle for bronze!

Final Standings: Women's Top 20

China was in exactly the same situation as Uzbekistan in the Open section, leading one team by a point and knowing that a win would guarantee gold, while a 2-2 tie would likely also be enough. In the end, the team finished the job with even less drama than it took Uzbekistan, comprehensively outplaying 21st seed Vietnam for a 3-1 win.

China beat Vietnam with a minimum of drama. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

For most of the round, China was better on all boards and could have scored more heavily, but it was fitting that Zhu and Lu picked up the wins. Zhu's win on top board was controlled and smooth, with IM Nguyen Pham's brave exchange sac ultimately swatted away.

Zhu also took gold on board one, despite fierce competition from IM Carissa Yip.

Women's Board 1 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rtg Team Rp Games 1 GM Zhu Jiner 2550 China 2638 9 2 IM Carissa Yip 2468 United States of America 2601 10 3 GM Humpy Koneru 2509 India 2543 10 4 IM Oliwia Kiolbasa 2386 Poland 2529 10 5 IM Stavroula Tsolakidou 2441 Greece 2521 9

Zhu began the event as the highest-rated female player and ended as world number-two, behind only the largely inactive GM Hou Yifan.

The Women's top five on the live rating list after the Olympiad.

It remains remarkable that China could dominate the Olympiad without Hou, Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun, GM Lei Tingjie, and GM Tan Zhongyi, though Zhu said she didn't think about their absences when the event began.

Zhu Jiner: "The #ChessOlympiad is the best team competition so it's very important for our team!" pic.twitter.com/tzgRQEz3tt — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

The success was partly down to 16-year-old Lu, who pounced on a blunder in the final round to make it 9.5/11 for the event.

Unsurprisingly, that performance was enough for gold on board three.

Women's Board 3 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 IM Lu Miaoyi 2371 China 2576 11 2 GM Divya Deshmukh 2490 India 2464 10 3 GM Bella Khotenashvili 2435 Georgia 2408 9 4 WCM Khishigbaatar Bayasgalan 2285 Mongolia 2395 11 5 IM Klaudia Kulon 2375 Poland 2374 10

China conceded just two game losses and suffered no match defeats.

Oliwia Kiolbasa and Bibisara Assaubayeva made a draw on board one as Poland-Kazakhstan ended in a 2-2 tie. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

Silver, meanwhile, went to third seed Kazakhstan, who went into the round a point behind China and was held to a 2-2 draw by Poland. IM Alua Nurman, so often the hero for Kazakhstan, lost a crazy game to IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, but 16-year-old WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet suddenly took over and beat WGM Alicja Sliwicka to level the score.

Kaliakhmet took gold on board four.

Elnaz Kaliakhmet is emerging as a new star of the women's game. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

Women's Board 4 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet 2347 Kazakhstan 2486 9 2 WIM Ineymig Hernandez Gil 2157 Cuba 2443 9 3 IM Agrawal Vantika 2395 India 2437 8 4 IM Tatev Abrahamyan 2347 United States of America 2383 9 5 WFM Nilufarkhon Imomkuzieva 2281 Uzbekistan 2360 8

Kazakhstan took clear silver, a point ahead of five teams that tied on 17 points.

The bronze medal ultimately went to India, who got off to a perfect start against Georgia with GM Koneru Humpy crashing through on top board. GM Nana Dzagnidze's 18...Rfd8?? was already the losing move.

Humpy wasn't feeling too confident about the team, however, telling Klein: "To be frank, it’s actually a very tough day for us, because after yesterday’s disaster [a draw with China] we are meeting the strongest team compared with other teams, we’re having a tough opponent, and also many players are exhausted, some are disappointed, so it’s not easy to handle it!"

Humpy also noted that despite debutant Savitha's incredible score, she was playing "the most tense game each day." That would prove prophetic, as after GM Bella Khotenashvili leveled the score with a win over GM Divya Deshmukh, all eyes turned to Savitha's game against IM Meri Arabidze.

Savitha Shri was again the savior, this time vs. Meri Arabidze. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The 19-year-old blundered a pawn, looked dead lost, but escaped when Arabidze went for a mistimed tactic. In the end Savitha was even briefly pushing before the game ended with both players having cause for regret.

Savitha Shri escapes with a draw vs. Meri Arabidze to end the #ChessOlympiad with 9/10 — it may still be enough for India to grab bronze medals! https://t.co/HvXlV6QKNA pic.twitter.com/YDx4Y73Um2 — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

Any regrets should have been brief for Savitha, however, since she'd given India bronze and also wrapped up individual gold with a 9/10 performance of monstrous proportions.

Women's Board 5 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Rp Games 1 IM Shri B Savitha 2382 India 2569 10 2 WGM Thi Mai Hung Nguyen 2277 Vietnam 2395 9 3 WFM Vesna Mihelic 2152 Slovenia 2311 9 4 WGM Sofia Pogorelskikh 2244 Serbia 2311 8 4 WIM Guldona Karimova 2242 Uzbekistan 2311 8

India's bronze meant the team was the only one to finish on the podium in both the Open and Women's sections, so that it was no surprise that the nation picked up the Gaprindashvili Cup for combined performance for a third time in a row.

Gaprindashvili Cup: Top 5

# Fed Team Combined Rank 1 India 5 2 United States of America 8 3 China 9 4 Armenia 12 5 Uzbekistan 14

Mongolia beat Greece 2.5-1.5 to get into the tie for third in the Women's Olympiad, as did Armenia, who overcame Uzbekistan 3-1 to make it yet another fantastic overall performance for Armenia.

Lilit Mkrtchian won in the final round as 16th seed Armenia finished sixth. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

As you can see, however, the U.S. took silver in the Gaprindashvili Cup, since both teams just missed out on a podium finish, taking fourth in each section.

Carissa Yip and the U.S. finished on a high. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The women defeated Romania 3-1, with wins on the top boards for IMs Yip and Alice Lee. While Yip lost one game, Lee lost none, as she finished on 8.5/10. In fact, she revealed in the post-game interview that she's played 20 games across two Olympiads without tasting defeat. Let's hope that going to Yale University doesn't get in the way of her rise to the GM title!

Alice Lee after winning individual gold on Board 2 (she says she's played 20 Olympiad games and won 13, drawn 7): "I got into Yale University last year and I'm currently in my gap year"#ChessOlympiad pic.twitter.com/WG9x4JTgzr — chess24 ( @chess24com ) September 27, 2026

For now, however, there's individual Olympiad gold.

Women's Board 2 Prizes: Top 5

# Player Rating Team Performance Games 1 IM Alice Lee 2453 United States of America 2572 10 2 WGM Mariam Mkrtchyan 2374 Armenia 2544 11 3 IM Song Yuxin 2457 China 2492 11 4 IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya 2363 Poland 2492 10 5 IM Alua Nurman 2455 Kazakhstan 2468 10

Bodhana Sivanandan won in the final round to add an IM norm to her earlier WGM norm (and title!). Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE.

All that remained was the closing ceremony...

...and that's a wrap from another incredible 11 days of action featuring 1,000s of players from around the globe. We hope you enjoyed the show!

The winners' chariot. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

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

Previous coverage: