Gukesh out of the 2700 club

Round two of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand saw all of the top 28 seeds score match victories, although several of the favourites had to work considerably harder than in the opening round.

Two teams among the top 50 were held to draws. Georgia, seeded 29^th, drew with 79^th-seeded Kyrgyzstan, while Finland, seeded 42^nd, split the match points with 92^nd-seeded Lebanon. The biggest surprise in terms of match results came from El Salvador, seeded 94^th, who defeated 44^th-seeded Cuba.

Turkish 15-year-old star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus scored the one win that gave his team a 2½-1½ victory over Bangladesh | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

China defeated Chile 3-1 with wins for Wei Yi and Xiangrui Kong, both with the white pieces, on boards two and four | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Vincent Keymer and Frederik Svane both grabbed wins for Germany, as the Europeans obtained a 3½-½ victory over Uzbekistan 3 | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Narrow wins for several favourites

Among the top ten teams, three won by the narrowest possible margin. The United States, India and the Netherlands all prevailed 2½–1½ against Mongolia, Indonesia and North Macedonia respectively.

The United States had to recover from a defeat on board four, where Khuyagtsogt Itgelt (Mongolia, 2435) beat Awonder Liang (United States, 2693). Wins with the white pieces by Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian were enough to turn the match in the Americans' favour and secure a 2½–1½ victory.

India were pushed even harder by Indonesia. Three members of the defending champions were held to draws, including reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju (India, 2703), who drew with black against Satria Duta Cahaia (Indonesia, 2412).

The decisive point came from Nihal Sarin (India, 2718) on board two, though his game against Arif Abdul Hafiz (Indonesia, 2428) was far from straightforward. Nihal was worse for a period in a complicated position before a mistake by the Indonesian IM allowed him to take over and score the victory that gave India a 2½–1½ win.

Nihal 1-0 Hafiz

In mutual time trouble, Hafiz (22 minutes left on the clock) had a clear advantage with black over Nihal (9 minutes) after the Indian GM faltered with 22.Qg3??

White needed to play 22.c3 to prevent Black's 22...Qxc2+, as played in the game.

However, with the times running dangerously low, it was the Indonesian IM first lost his advantage and then made the final mistake with 26...Kc7?

26...Kb8 was the way to keep the balance in this double-edged position, while after the text move (which was played after Hafiz used 7 of the 9 minutes he had left on the clock) White managed to get a clear advantage with 27.Rgd1 Bc6 28.Rxc6!

Now after 28...Qxc6 29.Qxe4+ Kc7 30.Qxb4 Rc8 31.Qd6+ White will grab the knight and get a strong initiative against the vulnerable black monarch.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Meanwhile, the white knight and bishop are perfectly coordinated to defend the king on b1. Hafiz resigned the game six moves later.

India's Nihal Sarin and Gukesh Dommaraju | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Gukesh's draw also had a consequence on the live rating list, as he slipped below the 2700 mark. The Indian is due to defend his World Championship title against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in Geneva in November.

Sindarov, meanwhile, made his first appearance at this Olympiad on Thursday and scored an attractive victory over Diego Flores of Peru. He is now fourth in the live world rankings, barely a point behind Fabiano Caruana and around 80 points ahead of Gukesh.

The gap between the two has changed markedly over the past two years. Before Sindarov won the Candidates Tournament in April, he stood only three points behind Gukesh, who was ranked tenth in the world with a 2748 rating on the official March 2026 list. Sindarov had only returned to the 2700 club in February 2025, when Gukesh was rated 2777 shortly after winning the 2024 World Championship match against Ding Liren in Singapore.

Flores 0-1 Sindarov

The World Championship challenger got to play a beautiful combination to win the game for his team during his debut at this year's Olympiad.

Sindarov completely ignored his attacked queen on f1 and played 29...Rf6!, threatening checkmate with ...Rf6-h6. There followed 30.Kh4 Rh6+ 31.Kg5, and now the Uzbek ace chose the prettiest of the many winning moves in the position: 31...Kf7!

32.Qxf1 Rh3 and there is no defence against the threat of ...h7-h6#. Stunning!

Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Your Calculation Compass: Know When to Calculate

In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves

Uzbekistan eventually defeated Peru 3½–½, but the final score did not fully reflect the course of the match. Steven Rojas (Peru, 2387) appeared close to defeating Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzbekistan, 2654) on board three at one stage, but the lower-rated player failed to convert his advantage and eventually lost.

The Netherlands also survived a scare against North Macedonia. Nikola Nikolovski (North Macedonia, 2393) defeated Casper Schoppen (Netherlands, 2582) on board four. Schoppen had already been held to a draw by a much lower-rated opponent in the opening round. Wins by Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest on the top two boards nevertheless allowed the Dutch team to take the match 2½–1½.

Hungary likewise secured victory thanks to a single decisive game. Three boards ended drawn, while Benjamin Gledura (Hungary, 2620), who had suffered an upset defeat in round one, bounced back by defeating Esteban Valderrama (Colombia, 2390) on board two.

Anish Giri got the better of Emil Risteski by converting a pawn-up rook endgame | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Similarly, Benjamin Gledura made the most of his extra pawn in a rook ending to defeat Esteban Valderrama | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

A few more highly rated players were beaten despite their teams scoring match wins.

Besides Khuyagtsogt Itgelt's victory over Awonder Liang, Nikola Nikolovski (North Macedonia, 2393) defeated Casper Schoppen (Netherlands, 2582). Another notable result came in Estonia's match against Ukraine, where Ilja Sirosh (Estonia, 2385) defeated veteran grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2630).

Ivanchuk 0-1 Sirosh

In a sharp battle emerging from a Queen's Gambit Declined, both Ivanchuk and Sirosh were in time trouble as early as move 20. It was the Ukrainian genius who faltered under the pressure though, with 21.Nf5??

Sirosh found the refutation: 21...Nd4!, and the white queen is being attacked both by the knight and the bishop. Tactics favour the Estonian player, as demonstrated in the game: 22.Rxd4 Bxf3 23.Nxe7 Bh5 24.g4 Bxf7 25.Nf5 Rac8

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

The passer on b2 is too strong. Ivanchuk had to throw in the towel three moves later.

Vasyl Ivanchuk | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's

Standings after round 2

...205 teams

All games

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's