The hosts defeat India 2.5-1.5 to emerge as the Open section’s sole leaders
Uzbekistan have emerged as the sole leaders of the Open section after six rounds, producing another impressive result on home soil. Their first team defeated India 2.5-1.5 in a thrilling encounter, with Nodirbek Yakubboev scoring the decisive victory on board three against Nihal Sarin.
The result propelled Uzbekistan to the top of the standings heading into the rest day, with the home team having shown both consistency and the ability to win the close matches that can ultimately decide the Olympiad. China also made a major statement by defeating Germany 3-1, while Armenia, France, and England remain among the teams in contention near the top.
In the Women’s section, China continued their impressive run by crushing Poland 3.5-0.5, while Kazakhstan edged out Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5 in a match decided by Alua Nurman’s victory over Gunay Mammadzada.
Let’s take a closer look at the action from the playing hall.
Once again, four ceremonial opening moves were performed this afternoon on the top boards. In the Open section, for the highly anticipated Uzbekistan – India match, Husen Tuxtayev, Deputy Governor of the Samarkand Region for Youth Policy, Social Development, and Spiritual and Educational Affairs, made the opening move for Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Nitin Narang, President of the All India Chess Federation, replied for R Praggnanandhaa.
Immediately afterwards, everyone moved two rows down to the Women’s section for the Azerbaijan – Kazakhstan encounter. Mahir Mammedov, President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, made the ceremonial first move for Govhar Beydullayeva, while Yeraly Tugzhanov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Uzbekistan, responded for Bibisara Assaubayeva.
Most teams arrive at the venue with more than enough time to find their boards and prepare for the match. So it was particularly unusual not to see any members of the Israeli teams when the games began.
After a few minutes, the situation became clear. In observance of Yom Kippur, which falls on September 20 and 21 this year, the Israeli Open and Women’s teams had requested adjustments to their playing schedule.
Yesterday, both of their opponents agreed to start the matches slightly earlier, with the games relocated to one of the official hotels. For today’s round, however, the Israeli teams requested either a later start in the evening or the possibility of playing the match tomorrow, the scheduled rest day.
FIDE contacted the opponents of both Israeli teams to discuss the possibility of adjusting the playing schedule. However, neither opponent agreed to play at a different time from the official schedule, which they were fully entitled to do.
As a result, and in accordance with the competition regulations, both Israeli teams forfeited their matches. Evgeni Romanov later explained the situation to Nurgyul Salimova, board one of the Bulgarian women’s team.
Open section
The match of the day between India and Uzbekistan brought together two of the three leaders and, unsurprisingly, both teams fielded exactly the same line-ups as in the previous round. On a personal note, after five rounds of watching these teams closely, I had the feeling that whoever came out on top today would have an excellent chance of winning the whole event.
All of these top players have a long history of playing each other, meeting multiple times each year at tournaments around the world. Here is a fun fact: three of the four players on each team had also faced each other in the previous Olympiad in Budapest. That match ended 2-2, with all four games drawn. The Chennai 2022 match was also a 2-2 draw!
All four games were intensely fought, and three eventually ended in draws, with Black gradually neutralising White’s initiative. But something seemed to be happening on board three, where Nodirbek Yakubboev and Nihal Sarin were heading towards severe time trouble in an extremely tricky position.
Nodirbek Yakubboev – Nihal Sarin
Yakubboev’s last move, 37.g3, concealed a very nice tactical idea that Nihal missed, when playing 36…Kxg5 on the previous move instead of the very strong 36…Kg7! with a huge advantage for Black. His best move here would have been to get his king to safety as quickly as possible with 37…Kh6 followed by 38…Kg7, after which Black should be able to hold the position.
But Nihal had probably already decided on his next move and confidently played 37…Nf5, protecting the pawn. Yakubboev immediately grabbed the knight and followed up with 38.Ne6+!, forking Black’s king and queen.
Nihal returned to the board in shock and quickly realised that he had blundered his queen. After 38…Rxe6 39.gxh4+ opens the h2–c7 diagonal, revealing the hidden attack on the queen. A very tricky tactical sequence indeed.
With a full queen against a rook and bishop, Yakubboev smoothly converted his advantage, securing a 2.5-1.5 victory for his team and improving his personal score to an impressive 4.5/5. It could prove to be one of the most important victories of his career.
Charlize van Zyl caught up with Yakubboev shortly after he left the tournament hall.
In the second key match of the day in the Open section, China overpowered the third-placed leader, Germany, 3-1, with crucial victories by Ding Liren on board one against Vincent Keymer and Xu Xiangyu against Alexander Donchenko on board four. The latter was a particularly instructive endgame, with Xu demonstrating the strength of two bishops against two knights.
France and England drew their match 2-2, with one win apiece, while Armenia moved into a tie for third place after defeating Iran 2.5-1.5. Iran is, of course, missing several of its strongest players: Alireza Firouzja, who now represents France but is not playing in Samarkand, as well as Parham Maghsoodloo and Sina Movahed.
Further down the standings, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Turkey and, above all, the United States recovered some ground with solid performances as the tournament heads into the rest day. The Netherlands will also climb the standings following their 4-0 forfeit victory over Israel.
On the less fortunate side, Spain missed a golden opportunity to return to the top positions, losing 2.5-1.5 to Uzbekistan’s second team. Without doubt, it was the surprise result of the afternoon.
Women’s Section
The four leaders were paired against each other in two tremendous clashes, and China once again demonstrated that they will be a force to reckon with, crushing Poland 3.5-0.5 and setting up a mouthwatering China–Kazakhstan top-board encounter for the seventh round.
Oliwia Kiołbasa held Zhu Jiner to a draw on board one, but the other three games went China’s way. All three were long and tricky battles, however, with Poland creating chances along the way and keeping the outcome in doubt for much of the match.
In the other top encounter, Kazakhstan defeated Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5. Boards one, three, and four all ended in draws, although none came without their share of ups and downs. Once again, everything came down to board two, where Alua Nurman defeated Gunay Mammadzada in one of the key games of the afternoon.
Alua Nurman – Gunay Mammadzada
White may be ever so slightly better in this endgame, but with careful play Black should be able to hold. A solid retreat such as 28…Bb6, followed perhaps by 29…Re6 would have kept everything under control.
Instead, Mammadzada played 28…Re6?? immediately, and suddenly 29.a4! left Black’s bishop in serious trouble. The threat is 30.b4 followed by 31.a5, trapping the bishop, meaning Black has to give up a pawn to avoid immediate disaster.
Mammadzada tried 29…c6, but after 30.b4 Bb6 31.Rxc6, White’s advantage proved decisive. The game is a good illustration of how, under time pressure, losing focus for just a single moment can be extremely costly.
The hero of the team was interviewed by Charlize van Zyl after the game.
The third key match of the afternoon brought together two of the tournament favourites, India and the United States. In a hard-fought encounter, India prevailed after the top two boards ended in draws, while Vantika and Savitha scored crucial victories on boards three and four.
Savitha maintained her perfect score of 5/5, with Vantika close behind on 4.5/5 — two outstanding individual performances.
Georgia, Ukraine, France, and Germany also recorded important victories and remain just behind the leaders, alongside Bulgaria, who moved up thanks to their 4-0 forfeit victory over Israel.
Tomorrow is the free day, giving players the chance to join an organised tour of the old city, take part in some sports, or simply relax and spend time with their teammates. But tonight, it’s party time: the Bermuda Party is a famous and long-standing social tradition at the FIDE Chess Olympiad.
It brings together players of all levels, from unrated newcomers and amateurs to elite grandmasters, providing a chance to let their hair down, dance, and socialise away from the serious atmosphere of the tournament hall.
Full results 46th Chess Olympiad
Written by IM Michael Rahal (FIDE Press Officer)
Photos: Michal Walusza and Rafal Oleksiewicz
Official website: https://chessolympiad2026.fide.com/