The 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad took place from 15-27 September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan won the Open section of the 2026 Chess Olympiad on home soil in Samarkand, claiming their second Olympiad title after Chennai 2022. In the Women’s section, China emerged as the Winner of the event clinching gold medal and the Winners trophy.
The closing ceremony of the event took place on Sunday, 27th of September, at the Eternal City (Boqiy Shahar) Amphitheater, located on the banks of the Silk Road channel, with the attendance of the newly elected FIDE President Mr. Timur Turlov, FIDE Deputy President Mr. Viswanathan Anand, FIDE Vice President Mr. Mahir Mamedov, President of Uzbekistan Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister of Uzbekitan Mr. Abdulla Aripov.
Heading into the final round of the Open event, Uzbekistan was in the sole lead with 1 match point edge over India, and was paired against Ukraine. With the narrow win of 2.5-1.5 against Ukraine, Uzbekistan secured the sole win of the event.
India and Germany tied for the silver medal as each of the teams scored 18 match points, following India’s 2-2 result against Hungary, and Germany’s 2.5-1.5 win over Netherlands in the last round. Having better tiebreak criteria, India won silver, and Germany claimed bronze.
Before the start of the last round in the Women’s section, China had the sole lead with 18 match points but was closely followed by Kazakhstan with 17 match points. Playing against Vietnam, China convincingly won the match with the 3-1 score, and clinched gold medal with the final score of 20 match points.
Kazakhstan, who spent much of the Olympiad fighting on the top boards, secured the silver medal after drawing 2–2 with Poland in the final round finishing the event with the score of 18 match points.
India, the United States, Poland, Armenia and Mongolia all finished on the same 17 match-point total, but India claimed the bronze medal on tiebreak after drawing 2–2 with Georgia in the last round.
The best individual players in both sections were awarded according to their tournament performance on each board.
The best individual players (Open section):
Board 1: 1.GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), 2.GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR), 3.GM Praggnanandhaa R (IND)
Board 2: 1.GM Wei Yi (CHN), 2.GM Jorden Van Foreest (NED), 3.GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)
Board 3: 1.GM Svane Frederik (GER), 2.GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB), 3.GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM)
Board 4: 1.GM Ihor Samunenkov (UKR), 2.GM Gukesh D (IND), 3.GM Levon Aronian (USA)
Board 5: 1.GM Gleb Dudin (HUN), 2.GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP), 3.GM Vladimir Hamitevici (MDA)
The best individual players (Women’s section):
Board 1: 1.GM Zhu Jiner (CHN), 2.IM Carissa Yip (USA), 3.GM Humpy Koneru (IND)
Board 2: 1.IM Alice Lee (USA), 2.WGM Mariam Mkrtchyan (ARM), 3.IM Yuxin Song (CHN)
Board 3: 1.IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN), 2.GM Divya Deshmukh (IND), 3.GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO)
Board 4: 1.WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet (KAZ), 2.WIM Ineymig Hernandez Gil (CUB), IM Agrawal Vantika (IND)
Board 5: 1.IM Shri B Savitha (IND), 2.WGM Thi Mai Hung Nguyen (VIE), 3.WFM Vesna Mihelic (SLO)
The best teams in five different rating categories, A to E, in both the Open and Women’s sections were awarded with medals. The United States of America (A), Vietnam (B), Ecuador (C), Pakistan (D) and Qatar (E) were the five winning teams in the Open section. In the Women’s section, the gold medallists were the United States of America (A), Croatia (B), Sri Lanka (C), Ghana (D) and Maldives (E).
The Closing ceremony concluded with the Olympiad flag as formally handed over to the hosts of the next edition to be held in the UAE in 2028, and spectacular fireworks.
Final rankings of both sections can be found here.
Detailed information about the event and final report can be found on the official website.
Photos by FIDE/ Rafal Oleksiewicz and Michal Walusza