Samarkand R1 (open): Favourites win comfortably, Thailand's Laohawirapap upsets Erigaisi

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/17/2026 – The 46th Chess Olympiad began in Samarkand with 206 teams in the open section, where the United States, India, Uzbekistan and China are the leading seeds. The top 30 teams all won their opening matches, though a few strong grandmasters dropped points. Botswana produced the only team upset by holding Brazil to a draw, while Arjun Erigaisi suffered the biggest individual upset of the day, losing to Thailand's IM Prin Laohawirapap (pictured). | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
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A colossal field descends on Samarkand

The 46th edition of the Chess Olympiad kicked off in Samarkand with 206 teams in the open section and 190 teams in the women's section. Both tournaments are 11-round Swiss team events, with teams competing on four boards in each round and each squad also including a reserve player.

Six rounds will be played on consecutive days until next Monday. Tuesday will be a rest day, before five more rounds are played from Wednesday through Sunday, 27 September.

In the open section, the top four teams have average ratings above 2700: the United States, India, Uzbekistan and China. The teams seeded 5th through 16th all have averages above 2600.

The same four teams also entered the previous Olympiad as the four favourites, although China were seeded third and Uzbekistan fourth in 2024. They went on to occupy the top four places in the final standings. India won gold with an impressive 21/22 match points, the United States took silver, Uzbekistan bronze and China finished fourth.

The highest-rated players in Samarkand are Fabiano Caruana (United States), Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), Wesley So (United States), Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan). World numbers one and two, Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Hikaru Nakamura (United States), are absent.

Wesley So

Wesley So in good spirits after meeting representatives from the Philippines, his home country | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Ding Liren

Ding Liren is playing on board one for China | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Chess Olympiad 2026, India

Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is playing on the fourth board for defending champions India - he played on board three in round one, since Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was not in the lineup on Wednesday | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Chess Olympiad 2026, Burundi

The delegation from Burundi | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Chess Olympiad 2026, Fiji

The delegation from Fiji | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Top 30 teams all win

The top 30 seeds all scored match victories in the opening round. Notably, 17 of them won 4–0, 8 obtained 3½–½ victories and 4 prevailed by a 3–1 score.

Only Hungary, seeded 8th, were pushed to the smallest possible winning margin among the top 30 teams. They defeated 110th-seeded Malta by 2½–1½.

The only upset in terms of match results came on board 31, where Botswana, seeded 133rd, drew with 31st-seeded Brazil. Providence Oatlhotse (Botswana, 2230) defeated Alexandr Fier (Brazil, 2537), while Mogotsi Mothudi (Botswana, 1914) beat Roberto Molina (Brazil, 2390).

Remarkably, no other lower-rated team managed to defeat its higher-rated opponent in the first round.

On board 21, Israel recorded a 4–0 victory over Pakistan after the Pakistani team decided not to face their opponents and forfeited all four boards.

Oatlhotse 1-0 Fier

Things quickly went wrong for Fier out of a Queen's Gambit Declined. By move 19, Oatlhotse already had a clear advantage, and the IM from Botswana spent 25 minutes before playing the formidable 19.d6!

There followed 19...Qf7 20.Nb5, threatening both Nb5-c7+ or Nb5xd6+ if Black captures the pawn on d6. After 20...0-0 21.Nxc7 Rb8 22.0-0 Bf5 23.Nc5 Kh8 24.Qxf7 Nxf7 25.Rfd1 White had a clear advantage with the far-advanced passer on the d-file.

Mogotsi Arnold Mothudi

Mogotsi Arnold Mothudi from Botswana scored a crucial win over Roberto Molina on board four | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Individual upsets

A number of strong grandmasters were held to draws by much lower-rated opponents. The highest-rated among them was Levon Aronian (United States, 2725), who only managed a draw with black against Ali Ehsan Aryan (Iraq, 2163).

Four players rated above 2500 even lost their games. Most notably, Arjun Erigaisi (India, 2759) was defeated by Prin Laohawirapap (Thailand, 2363).

Benjamin Gledura (Hungary, 2610) lost to Matthew Portelli (Malta, 2187), Felix Blohberger (Austria, 2552) was defeated by Ahmad Abdel Wahab (Palestine, 2066), and Khumoyun Begmuratov (Uzbekistan 2, 2514) lost to Homayoun Mohtaat (Afghanistan, 1928).

Uzbekistan, as the host nation, is fielding three teams in each section.

Ali Ehsan Aryan, Levon Aronian

Ali Ehsan Aryan from Iraq facing Levon Aronian from the United States | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Erigaisi 0-1 Laohawirapap

In the late middlegame, Erigaisi had a clear edge in a position with queens, rooks and a minor piece per side. The Indian star then gave up his advantage and entered an objectively equal ending with queens and rooks and an extra pawn. Finally, he blundered with 50.Qg7??

The only move that keeps the balance here is 50.Qf4, when 50...Qh1+?! (as was played in the game) is no good for Black, since the king will find refuge and White will get to make the most of his extra pawn. Still, after 50...Re4 51.Rf1 Qc3+ in this line, Black would get to keep things under control.

Instead, after 50.Qg7?? Black got to play the combination 50...Qh1+ 51.Kg4 Re4+ 52.Rf4 Qd1+ 53.Kg3 (53.Kg5 fails to 53...Rxe5+) Qg1+ 54.Kh3 Re3+ and Erigaisi resigned.

There is checkmate in two on the board. A memorable win for Laohawirapap and the chess enthusiasts in Thailand!

Arjun Erigaisi, Prin Laohawirapap

At this point, Arjun Erigaisi still had the upper hand against Prin Laohawirapap | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Round 1 recap by GM Felix Blohberger

Round 2 pairings

Team Pts. MP : MP Pts. Team
Uzbekistan *) 4 2 : 2 4 Peru
United States 3½ 2 : 2 4 Mongolia
Indonesia 4 2 : 2 3 India
Chile 4 2 : 2 4 China
Germany 4 2 : 2 3½ Uzbekistan 3
North Macedonia 4 2 : 2 3 Netherlands
Azerbaijan 4 2 : 2 4 Philippines
Colombia 4 2 : 2 2½ Hungary
France 4 2 : 2 4 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Scotland 4 2 : 2 4 Armenia
England 4 2 : 2 4 Tajikistan
Estonia 3½ 2 : 2 3½ Ukraine
Spain 3½ 2 : 2 3 Uruguay
Bangladesh 3½ 2 : 2 4 Turkiye
Serbia 3½ 2 : 2 4 Turkmenistan
Ireland 4 2 : 2 4 Poland
Croatia 4 2 : 2 4 Malaysia
Bolivia 3½ 2 : 2 4 Iran
Greece 3½ 2 : 2 4 Egypt
Paraguay 2½ 2 : 2 4 Czech Republic
Norway 4 2 : 2 3½ New Zealand
Israel 4 2 : 2 4 Albania
Romania 3½ 2 : 2 4 Costa Rica
South Korea 4 2 : 2 4 Argentina
Denmark 3½ 2 : 2 4 Mexico
Japan 4 2 : 2 4 Italy
Austria 3 2 : 2 4 South Africa
Venezuela 4 2 : 2 3½ Bulgaria
Georgia 4 2 : 2 4 Kyrgyzstan
Algeria 3½ 2 : 2 3 Uzbekistan 2

...105 boards

All games

<< That time Uzbekistan surprisingly won silver at the 1992 Chess Olympiad
Samarkand R1 (women): Nine teams from the top ten score 4-0 victories >>
Topics: Arjun Erigaisi, Chess Olympiad 2026
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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