Samarkand R8 (women): China lead with 15/16

by Martina Gerdts
9/25/2026 – After round eight, China lead the women's section outright with 15 out of a possible 16 match points. Kazakhstan, who had previously shared the lead with China, drew with India, while the Chinese team defeated Georgia. Kazakhstan, Armenia and Mongolia are China's closest pursuers. The Netherlands, led by Eline Roebers, lost to hosts Uzbekistan, whose team is headed by Afruza Khamdamova. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
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Kazakhstan no longer in the lead

Before round eight, China and Kazakhstan shared the lead in the women's section of the Chess Olympiad. While China defeated Georgia 2½-1½, Kazakhstan could only draw against India and therefore had to give up its share of first place. China now lead the tournament outright with 15/16 match points.

That should not diminish the performance of the Kazakh players, however. The team remains unbeaten thanks to the draw! Alongside Armenia and Mongolia, they are among the closest pursuers after round eight, each with 14 of a possible 16 match points.

Pairings: Kazakhstan versus India

Bibisara Assaubayeva remains unbeaten, just like her team. So far, her teammates have lost only two individual games. Against Humpy, she drew as she had previously done against Dinara Wagner. This was her sixth draw in seven appearances. Bearing in mind that she plays on board one against the strongest players from the opposing teams, this is a very good performance! Her draw against Milana Babic in round two can certainly be overlooked, especially as she later also drew against Zhu Jiner and, most recently, Humpy Koneru.

Alua Nurman defeated Vaishali Rameshbabu, who is set to challenge the world champion in the upcoming World Championship match. The 19-year-old Alua Nurman is number two in the FIDE girls' world rankings. With 5½/7 points, she is among the top three performers on board two. Alice Lee currently leads the board-two standings with 6/7.

Savitha Shri has also produced excellent results! Playing from the reserve board, she currently has 7 points from 7 games! Her tournament performance rating therefore stands at 2955! Among others, she has already defeated Rose Atwell (USA), Lara Schulze (Germany) and, in round eight, Elnaz Kaliakhmet.

Elnaz Kaliakhmet playing black against Savitha Shri | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Vaishali resigns against Alua Nurman | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

China get the better of Georgia

With three draws and one win for China, the match against Georgia was narrowly decided. Mo Zhai defeated Georgian player Lela Javakhishvili, who is rated 88 Elo points higher than the Chinese player. After this defeat, Georgia sits in 10th place with 12 match points. Nine other teams, including Germany, are also in the group on 12/16.

Zhu Jiner has been performing very well at the Chess Olympiad. With 4½/6 points, she currently has a tournament performance rating of 2618.

Mo Zhai v. Lela Javakhishvili

Uzbekistan defeat the Netherlands

In the clash between the Netherlands and Georgia, the question was which team would remain close to the leaders with 13 match points. Although the Netherlands had a slight numerical edge thanks to players with higher Elo ratings, the Uzbek team prevailed 3-1. Eline Roebers faced the toughest challenge of the match on board one against Afruza Khamdamova. Peng Zhaoqin scored the Netherlands' only board point of the day with her victory over Umida Omonova.

Afruza Khamdamova currently has 5½ points from 7 appearances and a tournament performance rating of 2575. That gives her the second-best performance among the board-one players, behind Zhu Jiner.

The Netherlands, led by Eline Roebers, dropped to 23rd place with 11/16 | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Alice Lee (USA, right) has scored 6/7 | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Standings after round 8

Rk. SNo FED Team Group Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 4 CHN
China A 8 7 1 0 15 239,5 25 81
2 3 KAZ
Kazakhstan A 8 6 2 0 14 224 22,5 86
3 16 ARM
Armenia A 8 7 0 1 14 202 22,5 77
4 15 MGL
Mongolia A 8 7 0 1 14 190,5 21,5 78
5 1 IND
India A 8 6 1 1 13 243,5 24 86
6 13 UZB
Uzbekistan A 8 6 1 1 13 204,5 23 77
7 24 GRE
Greece A 8 6 1 1 13 167 21 72
8 8 FRA
France A 8 6 0 2 12 220 24 75
9 11 BUL
Bulgaria A 8 6 0 2 12 214,5 23,5 80
10 2 GEO
Georgia A 8 5 2 1 12 206 22 82
11 9 POL
Poland A 8 6 0 2 12 189 21 82
12 14 SRB
Serbia A 8 5 2 1 12 181 21,5 74
13 10 GER
Germany A 8 6 0 2 12 178 19,5 79
14 35 INA
Indonesia A 8 6 0 2 12 175 22 72
15 38 CAN
Canada A 8 5 2 1 12 172 23 66
16 21 VIE
Vietnam A 8 6 0 2 12 169 21,5 72
17 27 CUB
Cuba A 8 5 2 1 12 159,5 20 71
18 5 USA
United States of America A 8 5 1 2 11 199 22,5 80
19 20 ENG
England A 8 5 1 2 11 196,5 23,5 70
20 41 EST
Estonia B 8 5 1 2 11 191 24 70
21 7 AZE
Azerbaijan A 8 5 1 2 11 184,5 21 80
22 48 MNE
Montenegro B 8 5 1 2 11 174,5 22 71
23 12 NED
Netherlands A 8 4 3 1 11 173,5 21 74
24 42 PHI
Philippines B 8 5 1 2 11 173 22 69
25 39 PER
Peru B 8 5 1 2 11 171 21,5 74
26 28 ARG
Argentina A 8 5 1 2 11 169 21 72
27 23 ROU
Romania A 8 5 1 2 11 168 22 69
28 22 ISR
Israel A 8 5 1 2 11 161 20,5 73
29 36 CZE
Czech Republic A 8 4 3 1 11 158 21 66
30 18 HUN
Hungary A 8 4 3 1 11 158 19 78

...189 teams

All games - Round 8

Replay all games on Live.ChessBase.com

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Topics: Chess Olympiad 2026
Martina Gerdts studied Portuguese and Spanish linguistics and nowadays teaches language classes and writes about chess and languages. Having started playing chess for a tournament trip to Paris, she is now active not only as a player but in a diverse range of activities connected to chess. This includes among others teaching chess classes, writing about chess and being active as an arbiter.
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