On 15 September this 12 months, the forty sixth World Chess Olympiad will begin on the Silk Highway worldwide tourism centre within the metropolis of Samarkand. Within the historical past of the distinguished competitors, held since 1927, Central Asia will host the chess world’s largest staff event for the primary time.
The Olympiad is predicted to set a brand new report for the variety of individuals and groups. A complete of 398 groups will participate: 208 groups within the males’s (Open) part and 190 groups within the girls’s part will compete for victory. This may break the report of 380 groups set in Budapest in 2024. The Olympiad will carry collectively 1,974 gamers, together with 240 grandmasters. Along with coaches and delegation members, Samarkand will welcome greater than 4,000 friends through the competitors. The event will encompass 11 rounds and can run till 27 September.
From 10 to 18 September, Samarkand can even host the third Chess Paralympiad. A complete of 41 groups will participate — the best determine within the historical past of the Chess Paralympiad. By comparability, 26 groups competed in Belgrade in 2023 and 34 in Astana in 2024. This 12 months’s occasion will carry collectively 196 gamers, together with 150 males and 46 girls. Will probably be held over seven rounds underneath the Swiss system. The report scale of the Chess Paralympiad is especially vital for the event of inclusive sport and for elevating the standing of chess as an mental sport open to all.
Holding the competitors in historic Samarkand, a metropolis inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Checklist and one of many key crossroads of the Nice Silk Highway, combines a sporting contest with a platform for cultural diplomacy and worldwide dialogue.
In response to the groups’ common ranking, america is seeded first within the males’s (Open) part. Its line-up options Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann, who’s making his Olympiad debut. Reigning champion India is seeded second and Uzbekistan third. Germany will probably be represented by Vincent Keymer and France by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Credit score: Michal Walusza / FIDE
In response to the groups’ common ranking, India begins as the highest seed within the girls’s part. The Kazakhstan staff consists of three-time world blitz champion and Norway Chess Girls 2026 winner Bibisara Assaubayeva. Ukraine’s first board will probably be 16-year-old European champion and lady grandmaster Anastasiya Hnatyshyn.
The road-ups of the Uzbekistan nationwide groups replicate the emergence of a brand new era of Uzbek chess. For the primary time, the boys’s and girls’s squads will every enter three groups made up of younger gamers. Specifically, Nilufarkhon Imomkuziyeva and Khumoyun Begmurodov, each aged 16, will make their Olympiad debut. Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, who performed for america on the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest, will defend the colors of Uzbekistan this time.
FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov has been introduced into the primary males’s line-up, and Uzbekistan’s first lady grandmaster, Nafisa Muminova, has joined the ladies’s staff as captain. Within the Uzbekistan males’s staff, Javokhir Sindarov (4th), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (seventh), Nodirbek Yakubboev (thirty ninth) and Shamsiddin Vokhidov (61st) are among the many 100 strongest gamers on the earth rankings. The truth that Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov are among the many world’s ten strongest gamers clearly demonstrates the competitiveness of the Uzbek chess college. The ladies’s staff additionally holds excessive positions on the earth rankings. Afruza Khamdamova is twenty sixth and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova eightieth.
The rise of Uzbek chess on the worldwide stage can be mirrored within the staff rankings. In contrast with 2025, the Uzbekistan males’s staff has climbed 15 locations within the FIDE rating of 204 international locations to take sixth place. The ladies’s staff has climbed 17 locations to take twenty first.
Credit score: Michal Walusza / FIDE
Alongside the Olympiad, the 97th FIDE Congress will probably be held in Samarkand from 19 to twenty-eight September. Leaders of greater than 200 chess federations are anticipated to attend. The Congress can even embody the election of the FIDE President.
The forty sixth World Chess Olympiad will probably be one other necessary stage for Uzbek participant Javokhir Sindarov. Eight weeks after the Olympiad ends, he’ll tackle reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju for the world chess crown. Each gamers will probably be 20 years previous firstly of the match, which is scheduled to be held in Geneva from 22 November to 13 December. Will probably be the youngest World Championship match in chess historical past. Notably, earlier than their title conflict each gamers will probably be defending the colors of their nationwide groups in Samarkand: Sindarov for Uzbekistan and Gukesh for India.
Holding the forty sixth World Chess Olympiad, the third Chess Paralympiad and the FIDE Congress in Samarkand on the similar time demonstrates Uzbekistan’s capability to organise main worldwide sporting and mental occasions at a excessive stage. These competitions is not going to solely showcase the present energy of Uzbek chess, however can even take the nation’s efforts to develop youth sport, assist inclusive sport and strengthen worldwide sports activities diplomacy to a brand new stage.
Full particulars can be found on the official event web site: chessolympiad2026.fide.com
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