Olympiad Finals: Uzbekistan and China Took Gold in Samarkand. The Club Lesson Is What You Play When Your Board Still Decides the Match.

On Sunday, September 27, 2026, Round 11 closed the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. Uzbekistan won the Open on home soil. China won the Women's event. Saturday's round, covered in Olympiad Round 10, left Uzbekistan alone on 18 match points after a 3.5–0.5 win over Armenia, with India on 17. The same Saturday, in the same city, the General Assembly elected Timur Turlov president of FIDE. That count is in Timur Turlov Was Elected FIDE President. Sunday was the last round, and the day the medals were decided.

How did Uzbekistan win the Open?

Uzbekistan beat Ukraine 2.5–1.5 and finished on 20 match points. UzDaily reported the 20-point total and the second gold, after the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, along with a bronze in Budapest in 2024. Chess.com wrote that the hosts finished two points ahead of India and Germany. UzDaily also noted the lead after ten rounds, 18 match points to India's 17. Rediff, citing PTI, reported 20 match points from a possible 22, with ten match wins and a single loss, to Germany in Round 8.

The Indian Express reported the moment the gold became safe. Uzbekistan were leading Ukraine 2–1, with one game still going, when India drew Hungary 2–2. Chess.com's note on the event gives two match points for a win and one for a draw. A loss in the remaining game would have made the match 2–2, worth one match point, and 19 would still have stood ahead of India's 18. Madaminov won the game that was left. The match finished 2.5–1.5, and the hosts added two match points to reach 20. UzDaily names former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov as captain, with Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, and Mukhiddin Madaminov on the squad.

What happened on the board that still decided the match?

Zamin.uz published a board table for Uzbekistan against Ukraine. Abdusattorov and Igor Kovalenko drew on board one. Vasyl Ivanchuk and Javokhir Sindarov drew on board two. Nodirbek Yakubboev and Ihor Samunenkov drew on board three. On board four, Roman Dehtiarov lost to Mukhiddin Madaminov, and the same report says Madaminov had the black pieces. UzDaily lists the same four results. Chess.com called Madaminov's game a sharp clash and named him the last-day hero of the 2.5–1.5 win.

Three results were already draws. The match score still depended on the game Madaminov was playing, and he won it. In that seat, finish the sharp line you have calculated, and play the move that line begins with.

Full cross-tables for both sections are on the official Olympiad site.

How did India take silver and Germany take bronze?

India, the defending Open champion, drew Hungary 2–2. Sportstar and The Indian Express agree on the boards. R. Praggnanandhaa, with White, drew Richard Rapport on board one. Arjun Erigaisi beat Peter Leko on board two, which saved the match point. Nihal Sarin, with White, drew Benjamin Gledura on board three. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost on board four to Hungary's GM Gleb Dudin. Chess.com reported the same loss for Gukesh and the same win for Erigaisi over Leko.

India and Germany both finished on 18 match points and 28.5 game points. Sportstar and The Indian Express report that India took silver on the direct encounter: India had beaten Germany earlier in the event. That match was Round 9, a 2.5–1.5 win, covered in Olympiad Round 9. Germany took bronze. Chess.com reported a 2.5–1.5 win over the Netherlands, with Matthias Bluebaum beating Jorden van Foreest. Rediff lists the other three games as draws: Anish Giri with Vincent Keymer, Loek van Wely with Frederik Svane, and Casper Schoppen with Rasmus Svane.

How did the Women's medals finish?

China beat Vietnam 3–1. Chess.com described the result as a seventh Women's Olympiad gold, and wrote that GM Zhu Jiner and IM Lu Miaoyi won their final games and wrapped up individual gold medals. Rediff reported that China finished on 20 match points, two ahead of Kazakhstan. Chess.com wrote that China, like Uzbekistan, finished two points clear, and that Kazakhstan took silver after a 2–2 draw with Poland.

India drew Georgia 2–2 and took bronze. Sportstar reports that Koneru Humpy won on board one against Nana Dzagnidze. Chess.com reports that IM Savitha Shri escaped a lost position against Georgia's IM Meri Arabidze and rescued the 2–2. The Indian Express describes the same hold: Savitha Shri B was on the ropes against Arabidze, kept defending, and saved a draw from a position that looked lost, next to Humpy's win on the top board against Dzagnidze. Rediff adds that Divya Deshmukh lost to Bella Khotenashvili on board four, that Vantika Agrawal drew with Lela Javakhishvili on board three, and that Savitha scored 9 points from 10 games and won an individual gold medal for her performance. Chess.com reports that the United States, Poland, Armenia, and Mongolia finished level on points with India and missed the tiebreaks.

The Indian Express and Sportstar both write that China already led by two match points, so the Women's gold was out of India's reach before this match, and that India needed a win over Georgia to challenge Kazakhstan for silver. The 2–2 draw left India third.

Who kept the Gaprindashvili Trophy?

India retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy, the prize for the best combined result in the Open and the Women's event. The Indian Express writes that FIDE created it in 1997 and named it for Nona Gaprindashvili, the first woman to earn the grandmaster title. It measures a federation's depth by putting the two section results together. India has now won it three Olympiads in a row: at home in Chennai in 2022, in Budapest in 2024 during the double-gold campaign, and in Samarkand in 2026. Sportstar reports the same three editions. The Open silver and the Women's bronze, taken together, were enough to keep it.

What should you practice when one board still decides the match?

Take a team match you played this season and stop on the position where your board was the one that could still change the score. Before you play the move that only feels safer, write the sharp variation you are willing to stand behind, one move at a time.

Which results in this match are already in, and does the team score still depend on my board?
What sharp line have I calculated far enough that I am willing to play its first move?
What does my opponent still have to answer once that first move is on the board?

If the line on the paper and the move in your hand disagree, spend the next ten minutes on the line you wrote. Then let an engine check the position. Say what you were trying to do first. That order is the one in intent-based chess analysis and in How To Analyze Your Own Chess Games. The longer pause before you touch a piece is in The Chess Thought Process Guide. If you are following Samarkand while you prepare for your own event, How to Prepare for a Chess Tournament is the practical companion.

Where does D4 Chess Club™ fit?

If a team match from last weekend left you with one live board and a line you still want to check, bring that game to d4chess.club. You name the variation you meant to play, and the mentor asks you to say it in a sentence before the engine looks at the position. Start free on D4Chess.Club.

FAQ

Who won the 2026 Chess Olympiad in Samarkand?

On Sunday, September 27, 2026, Round 11 ended the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan won the Open on home soil, its second Olympiad gold after Chennai in 2022, and finished on 20 match points, two ahead of India and Germany. China won the Women's section, a seventh Women's Olympiad gold. Chess.com reported that China finished two match points clear, and Rediff, citing PTI, reported a 20-point total, two ahead of Kazakhstan. India took silver in the Open and bronze in the Women's event, and retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for a third straight Olympiad, after Chennai 2022 and Budapest 2024.

How did Uzbekistan beat Ukraine in the final round?

Uzbekistan beat Ukraine 2.5–1.5 and finished on 20 match points. Chess.com reported that GM Mukhiddin Madaminov won a sharp game against GM Roman Dehtiarov. UzDaily and a board table from Zamin.uz list draws on the other three boards: Nodirbek Abdusattorov with Igor Kovalenko, Javokhir Sindarov with Vasyl Ivanchuk, and Nodirbek Yakubboev with Ihor Samunenkov. Zamin lists Madaminov's win on board four and says he had the black pieces. The Indian Express reported that India had already drawn with Hungary, and that Uzbekistan led Ukraine 2–1 with one game still in progress, so no other team could catch the hosts.

How did the Open silver and bronze, and the Women's medals, finish?

India drew Hungary 2–2. Sportstar and The Indian Express reported that Gukesh Dommaraju lost on board four to Gleb Dudin, Arjun Erigaisi beat Peter Leko on board two, R. Praggnanandhaa drew with Richard Rapport on board one, and Nihal Sarin drew with Benjamin Gledura on board three. India and Germany both finished on 18 match points and 28.5 game points. India took silver on the head-to-head tiebreak after beating Germany earlier in the event. Germany took bronze by beating the Netherlands 2.5–1.5, with Matthias Bluebaum defeating Jorden van Foreest. In the Women's event, China beat Vietnam 3–1, Kazakhstan drew Poland 2–2 for silver, and India drew Georgia 2–2 for bronze. Koneru Humpy beat Nana Dzagnidze on board one, and Savitha Shri B drew with Meri Arabidze after being lost. Chess.com reported that the United States, Poland, Armenia, and Mongolia finished level on points with India and missed the tiebreaks.

What should a club player do when one board still decides the match?

Finish the sharp line you are willing to play, and play the first move of it, while your board is still the one that can change the match score. In Samarkand that seat belonged to Mukhiddin Madaminov. The other three games against Ukraine were draws, his win made the match 2.5–1.5, and Uzbekistan took the Open gold. Write that line down before you spend the move on a choice whose main recommendation is that it feels safer.

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