Samarkand R8 (open): Germany stun Uzbekistan, join them in the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/25/2026 – Germany ended Uzbekistan's perfect run in round eight of the Chess Olympiad, beating the hosts 2½–1½ to join them on 14/16 match points. Brothers Frederik and Rasmus Svane (pictured) collected wins for Germany on the bottom boards for a second day in a row. Eight teams now sit only one point behind, including China, India, the United States and the Netherlands. With three rounds remaining, the standings have tightened considerably ahead of another set of direct clashes among the leading teams. | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
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The Svane brothers deliver again

Germany brought Uzbekistan's perfect run to an end in round eight of the open Chess Olympiad, defeating the hosts 2½–1½ and joining them at the top of the standings on 14/16 match points. Uzbekistan had arrived at Thursday's round with seven wins from seven and a two-point lead over the field. Germany, however, had already shown their ability to compete with the strongest teams in Samarkand, and their latest victory has reopened the race with three rounds remaining.

The key results, for a second round in a row, came from brothers Frederik and Rasmus Svane on the bottom two boards. Frederik defeated Nodirbek Yakubboev on board three, while Rasmus beat Shamsiddin Vokhidov on board four. Javokhir Sindarov struck back for Uzbekistan by defeating Matthias Bluebaum, while Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew on the top board.

For Frederik Svane, the win continued an excellent individual tournament. He has scored 6½/8 and is performing at a 2811 level (TPR), while Germany have now collected notable victories over both the United States and Uzbekistan during their run towards the top of the standings. Curiously, Germany faced all three Uzbek teams in Samarkand, and beat all three of them.

F. Svane v. Yakubboev

Annotations by Martina Gerdts

Svane opened the centre while Yakubboev's king was still in the middle of the board.

After the centre had been opened, Svane sacrificed his bishop, opening the position even further. After 22...Nxd5 came 23.Rxf7, and instead of recapturing the rook, Black played 23...Be6 24.Rxe7 Qxe7 25.Qf3 0-0-0. But even on c8, the king was not safe without any pawns shielding it.

Frederik Svane, Nodirbek Yakubboev

Frederik Svane facing Nodirbek Yakubboev, who showed great form in the first seven rounds of the event | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Vokhidov v. R. Svane

Annotations by Martina Gerdts

On move 16, Vokhidov blundered against Rasmus Svane due to a tactical motif.

There followed 16...Qxd1+ 17.Rxd1 Ne2+, with a knight fork. After that, the game could no longer be saved.

After Svane gave back the exchange for a pawn, he reached a winning rook endgame. The game lasted 51 moves in total.

Rasmus Svane, Shamsiddin Vokhidov

Rasmus Svane versus Shamsiddin Vokhidov | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer

The duel of elite GMs on the top board, Nodirbek Abdusattorov v. Vincent Keymer, ended drawn | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Eight teams sit one point behind

Germany's victory compressed the standings considerably. Uzbekistan remain first on tiebreaks, with Germany second, both on 14/16. Behind them, no fewer than eight teams have 13/16: China, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, the United States, India, France, Armenia and Uzbekistan 2.

Two of the direct encounters between teams from that chasing group ended drawn. India and Azerbaijan shared the points after all four games finished level, while the Netherlands and Armenia also drew 2–2.

The Dutch-Armenian match did feature two decisive games. Jorden van Foreest defeated Robert Hovhannisyan, but Shant Sargsyan replied for Armenia by beating Loek van Wely. Van Foreest has been one of the standout individual performers of the Olympiad, reaching 6½/7 with the highest tournament performance rating of the event: 2972.

India had chances to do more against Azerbaijan. The first three boards ended peacefully, while Gukesh Dommaraju obtained winning chances against Mahammad Muradli in the last game to finish, but he was unable to convert and the match ended 2–2.

Jorden van Foreest

Dutch stars Jorden van Foreest and Anish Giri speaking with team captain Jan Smeets | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Gukesh Dommaraju, Mahammad Muradli

Gukesh Dommaraju failed to make the most of an advantage in the late middlegame against Azerbaijan's Mahammad Muradli | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

United States and China gain ground

The United States made the most of the draws above them by beating Serbia 3½–½. Fabiano Caruana, Hans Niemann and Awonder Liang all scored wins, while Levon Aronian drew Alexandr Predke. The result lifted the top seeds to 13/16 and brought them back to within one match point of the leaders.

China also moved to 13/16 with a narrow 2½–1½ victory over Poland. Three games were drawn, leaving Wei Yi's win over Szymon Gumularz on board two as the decisive result. Wei has also been having a strong event individually, with a TPR above 2800.

Gumularz v. Wei

A tactical expert, Wei had no trouble finding the beautiful 32...Qxf3+, starting a small combination which prompted his Polish opponent's resignation: 33.Bxf3 Bxf3 34.Kf2 (the rook on c1 now looks at h1) Rf8! 35.e4 Bd1!

A remarkable discovered check which ended the game. There is mate-in-four on the board, with Black ready to get a new queen on h1.

Chess Olympiad 2026

China v. Poland | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

John Donaldson, Fabiano Caruana

John Donaldson congratulates US star Fabiano Caruana, who has an undefeated 5/7 score so far in the event | Photo: Michal Walusza

France joined the same group by edging Iran 2½–1½ in a match featuring three decisive games. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Marc'Andria Maurizzi scored the French wins, while Mahdi Gholami replied for Iran.

Uzbekistan 2 completed the eight-team group on 13/16 after defeating England 2½–1½. Three boards were drawn, while Khumoyun Begmuratov beat Daniel Fernandez on board four to decide the match.

Jules Moussard, Arash Daghli

France's Jules Moussard escaped with a draw against Iran's Arash Daghli from an endgame with two rooks and a bishop against a queen and a rook | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Daniel Fernandez, Khumoyun Begmutarov

Khumoyun Begmutarov from Uzbekistan 2 collected a win over Daniel Fernandez in the one game that ended decisively against England | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Nine more teams stand another point back on 12/16, meaning that a large part of the field remains within striking distance entering the final three rounds. Among them are Türkiye, Spain, Czechia, Ukraine and Hungary. Türkiye's 15-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus continues to impress, as he defeated Canada's Swan Rodrigue-Lemieux in the one decisive game of the match - Erdogmus has so far scored 6/7 points and gained 13.3 rating points.

Round nine will immediately test both co-leaders. Uzbekistan face the top-seeded United States, while Germany take on defending champions India.

Standings after round 8

Rk. SNo FED Team Group Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 3 UZB
Uzbekistan A 8 7 0 1 14 241,5 24 86
2 5 GER
Germany A 8 7 0 1 14 208 21,5 85
3 4 CHN
China A 8 6 1 1 13 214,5 22 85
4 6 NED
Netherlands A 8 6 1 1 13 208,5 21,5 80
5 7 AZE
Azerbaijan A 8 5 3 0 13 204,5 22 80
6 1 USA
United States of America A 8 6 1 1 13 202,5 21,5 80
7 2 IND
India A 8 6 1 1 13 202 20,5 82
8 9 FRA
France A 8 5 3 0 13 195,5 22 77
9 10 ARM
Armenia A 8 5 3 0 13 195,5 21 82
10 30 UZB
Uzbekistan 2 A 8 6 1 1 13 184 20,5 77
11 19 GRE
Greece A 8 6 0 2 12 184 21,5 76
12 14 TUR
Turkiye A 8 6 0 2 12 183 21 79
13 13 ESP
Spain A 8 6 0 2 12 180,5 21,5 74
14 20 CZE
Czech Republic A 8 5 2 1 12 180 21 77
15 12 UKR
Ukraine A 8 6 0 2 12 179,5 21 75
16 29 GEO
Georgia A 8 5 2 1 12 175 22 68
17 28 BUL
Bulgaria A 8 6 0 2 12 168,5 20,5 75
18 27 AUT
Austria A 8 5 2 1 12 167 20,5 70
19 31 BRA
Brazil A 8 5 2 1 12 161 19,5 64
20 8 HUN
Hungary A 8 5 2 1 12 148,5 16,5 78
21 23 ROU
Romania A 8 3 5 0 11 198 21,5 79
22 18 IRI
Iran A 8 5 1 2 11 191 22 77
23 47 VIE
Vietnam B 8 5 1 2 11 181,5 23,5 69
24 38 SVK
Slovakia A 8 5 1 2 11 178 22,5 70
25 16 POL
Poland A 8 5 1 2 11 177,5 21 77
26 37 LTU
Lithuania A 8 5 1 2 11 168 21,5 70
27 17 CRO
Croatia A 8 5 1 2 11 167 22 67
28 24 ARG
Argentina A 8 5 1 2 11 165,5 20,5 74
29 15 SRB
Serbia A 8 5 1 2 11 162 19 77
30 36 SWE
Sweden A 8 5 1 2 11 159 20,5 70

...205 teams

All games - Round 8

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Topics: 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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