India finished with silver in the open section and bronze in the women section at the 46th Chess Olympiad 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, held from 15 to 27 September 2026. Hosts Uzbekistan won the open gold and China won the women gold. As the only country on both podiums, India retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for best combined performance for the third time in a row.
What Is the Chess Olympiad?
The Chess Olympiad is the world team championship for national chess teams, organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). FIDE, the world governing body for chess founded on 20 July 1924 in Paris and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, holds the sole right to organise the Olympiad and the World Chess Championship. The Olympiad has two separate team tournaments held together, an Open section for players of any gender and a Women section for women players only.
The first official Olympiad was held in London in 1927, when 16 teams competed and Hungary won the Hamilton-Russell Cup. The event was stopped during World War II and resumed in 1950. Since then FIDE has held it once every two years, which makes it a biennial event. The Chess Olympiad is not a knockout tournament and it is not part of the Olympic Games. It uses classical time control games played over many rounds to decide the winning teams.
When and Where Was the 46th Chess Olympiad Held?
The 46th Chess Olympiad 2026 was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 15 to 27 September 2026 at the Silk Road International Exhibition Centre. The opening ceremony took place on 15 September, rounds were played from 16 to 27 September with a rest day on 22 September, and 1,961 players took part.
FIDE selected Samarkand, the historic Silk Road city in Central Asia. This was the first Chess Olympiad held in Central Asia. The main venue sits inside the Silk Road Samarkand tourist complex, which covers 280 hectares near the rowing canals and was opened in August 2022. The complex had earlier hosted the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in 2023 and the Grand Swiss in 2025.
The Samarkand Olympiad set a participation record. The Open section had 206 teams from 204 nations with 1,024 players, and the Women section had 189 teams from 187 nations with 937 players. The event was opened by former world champion Viswanathan Anand, who serves as FIDE Deputy President (as of September 2026). Alongside the main competition, FIDE also held the 3rd Olympiad for People with Disabilities and the FIDE Congress.
How Does the Chess Olympiad Work?
The Chess Olympiad uses an 11-round Swiss system where each team fields four players plus one reserve per round. A team win earns two match points and a draw earns one, with game points and Sonneborn-Berger score used as tiebreaks. Classical time control applies to all games.
Each national squad names five players. In every round, four play on four boards while one rests as reserve, and the board order can be changed between rounds. Colours alternate across boards. A win gives one game point and a draw gives half a point. The four game points are added to decide the round result. A round win gives two match points, a drawn round gives one match point, and a loss gives zero. Final ranking is based on match points first.
If teams finish level on match points, FIDE applies tiebreaks in order. The first tiebreak is the Sonneborn-Berger system, which rewards wins against stronger opponents. The next tiebreaks are total game points and the combined match points of opponents. There is no age limit or knockout stage. Any player selected by the national federation can take part, and every team plays all 11 rounds.
The time control in Samarkand was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment from the first move. Players could offer a draw at any time. All rounds started at 3 pm local time (UTC plus 5 hours), except the final round which started at 11 am.
46th Chess Olympiad 2026: Final Results
The FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 ended on 27 September 2026 after 11 rounds. The United States started as top seed in the Open section, while India started as top seed in the Women section. Hosts Uzbekistan and China finished two points clear in their respective sections.
| Section | Gold (20 match points) | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | Uzbekistan (20 points, 32.5 game points) | India (18 points, 28.5 game points) | Germany (18 points, 28.5 game points) |
| Women | China (20 points) | Kazakhstan (18 points) | India (17 points) |
Open Section: Uzbekistan Gold, India Silver
FIDE confirmed Uzbekistan as open champions after the hosts beat Ukraine 2.5 to 1.5 in the final round. Uzbekistan scored 10 wins and one loss in 11 matches, losing only to Germany in round eight. This was Uzbekistan’s second open title after its first win in Chennai in 2022. Uzbekistan defeated strong teams such as the United States, India, China, Hungary and Armenia on the way to gold.
India drew 2 to 2 with Hungary in the final round to finish on 18 match points. Arjun Erigaisi beat Peter Leko on board two for India, while Hungary’s Gleb Dudin beat world champion D Gukesh on board four. Germany also finished on 18 match points after beating the Netherlands 2.5 to 1.5, with Matthias Bluebaum scoring the deciding win. India took silver ahead of Germany on tiebreak Sonneborn-Berger score. Germany’s bronze was its first Olympiad medal since silver in Istanbul in 2000.
The top individual award in the Open section went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan on board one with a 2869 performance. China’s Wei Yi won board two gold, Germany’s Frederik Svane won board three gold with a 2796 performance, Ukraine’s Ihor Samunenkov won board four gold, and Hungary’s Gleb Dudin won reserve board gold. India’s R Praggnanandhaa won bronze on board one and Gukesh won silver on board four.
Women Section: China Gold, India Bronze
FIDE confirmed China as women champions after China beat Vietnam 3 to 1 in the final round. Zhu Jiner and Lu Miaoyi won their games to also secure individual gold medals. This was China’s seventh women title and its first since 2018. China finished unbeaten and two points ahead of the field.
Kazakhstan took silver with 18 match points after drawing 2 to 2 with Poland. Elnaz Kaliakhmet won on board four to level the match and claimed individual board four gold. India drew 2 to 2 with Georgia in the final round. Koneru Humpy won on the top board for India, while Savitha Shri B held a difficult position to draw and secure the match draw.
India, the United States, Poland, Armenia and Mongolia all finished on 17 match points. India won bronze on tiebreak. The United States star Alice Lee won board two gold with a 2572 performance, while India’s Savitha Shri B won board five gold with 9 points from 10 games.
India at Samarkand: Teams and Key Players
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) selected India’s squads. The AICF is the national body for chess in India, founded in 1951, affiliated to FIDE and the Asian Chess Federation, and headquartered in New Delhi. Nitin Narang is its president (as of September 2026). India entered Samarkand as defending champions in both sections after the double gold in Budapest in 2024.
The open team kept four members of the 2024 winning side, with Nihal Sarin replacing Pentala Harikrishna as the only change. Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan returned as captain. The women team was captained by Grandmaster Swayams Mishra. Former world rapid champion Koneru Humpy returned after missing Budapest, and young Savitha Shri B joined the squad. Harika Dronavalli and Tania Sachdev, part of earlier teams, were not in the 2026 women squad.
| Team | Players | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi | Srinath Narayanan |
| Women | Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh, R Vaishali, Vantika Agrawal, Savitha Shri B | Swayams Mishra |
The board order drew attention. Arjun Erigaisi (2759) played board one, Praggnanandhaa (2750) played board two, Nihal Sarin (2718) played board three, reigning world champion D Gukesh (2703) played board four, and Vidit Gujrathi (2697) was the reserve. In Budapest in 2024, Gukesh had played board one and scored 9 points from 10 games with a 3056 performance. The new order spread four players rated above 2700 across the top four boards.
Praggnanandhaa arrived in strong form after winning Norway Chess in June 2026, where he beat Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh. Arjun’s final round win over Leko secured silver. Gukesh had a mixed event and lost the final game to Dudin, but still earned an individual silver medal.
In the women section, Humpy (2524) led on board one, followed by Divya Deshmukh (2490) and R Vaishali (2489). Divya entered as the reigning Women’s World Cup winner. Vaishali entered as the winner of the Women’s Candidates Tournament, which earned her the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Championship. Vantika Agrawal added depth as a returning gold medallist from 2024. Savitha Shri B, one of the new faces, became a key figure with her unbeaten run and board gold.
Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy and Other Olympiad Trophies
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the country with the best combined score across the open and women sections. FIDE established the trophy in 1997. It is named after Georgian player Nona Gaprindashvili, the fifth Women’s World Champion from 1962 to 1978 and the first woman to receive the Grandmaster title. The winning federation holds the trophy until the next Olympiad.
Only four countries have ever won the trophy. Russia has won it six times, China three times, India three times, and Ukraine twice. India first won it in Chennai in 2022, retained it with double gold in Budapest in 2024, and retained it again in Samarkand in 2026. In Samarkand, India finished first in the combined standings, the United States finished second, and China finished third. India was the only country to win medals in both sections in 2026, which explains the combined victory even though it did not win either section outright.
The Olympiad has two other rolling trophies. The winning team in the open section receives the Hamilton-Russell Cup, donated by English sponsor Frederick Hamilton-Russell for the 1927 Olympiad. The winning team in the women section receives the Vera Menchik Cup, named after Vera Menchik, the first Women’s World Champion. In 2026, Uzbekistan lifted the Hamilton-Russell Cup and China lifted the Vera Menchik Cup.
India’s Olympiad Journey: From Chennai to Samarkand
India’s rise at the Olympiad has been sharp in recent editions. At the 44th Olympiad in Chennai in 2022, India won bronze in both sections on home soil. The open bronze went to the young India 2 team featuring Gukesh and Nihal Sarin. India also won the Gaprindashvili Trophy for the first time in 2022.
At the 45th Olympiad in Budapest in 2024, India created history with gold in both sections. The open team of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna scored 21 match points, four points ahead of the United States. The women team of Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev scored 19 match points to beat Kazakhstan. Gukesh, Arjun, Divya and Vantika all won individual board gold medals in 2024.
The Samarkand result continues that run. India has now won team medals in three straight Olympiads and the combined trophy three times in a row. The shift from double gold to silver plus bronze shows how competitive the field has become, with Uzbekistan’s young squad winning at home and China’s women returning to the top after six years. The next Olympiad is scheduled in Abu Dhabi in 2028, where India will again start among the favourites.
Key Takeaways
- The 46th Chess Olympiad 2026 was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 15 to 27 September 2026 under FIDE.
- Uzbekistan won open gold with 20 match points, while India won silver and Germany won bronze with 18 points each.
- China won women gold with 20 match points, while Kazakhstan won silver and India won bronze with 17 points.
- India retained the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for best combined performance for the third consecutive time after 2022 and 2024.
- India’s open captain was Srinath Narayanan and women captain was Swayams Mishra, with D Gukesh and Divya Deshmukh among the team members.
- The All India Chess Federation, founded in 1951 and headquartered in New Delhi, selects India’s Olympiad teams.
