ChessBase at the Olympiad in Samarkand: Interviews

by ChessBase
9/17/2026 – ChessBase has a team on-site at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. Visitors to the ChessBase stand can find out more about ChessBase for Mac. Arne Kähler and Veronika Exler are also conducting interviews. Adriana Palao loves sacrificing queens, Konstantin Peyrer would rather not use a board for the first game analysis, while Jerelyn Adeshola Mary Beckley wants to beat Magnus Carlsen in ten years' time. | Photo: ChessBase
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A ChessBase team has travelled to Samarkand. The interviews recorded during the Chess Olympiad will be uploaded to the ChessBase YouTube channel. On the first day, Arne Kähler and Veronika Exler spoke, among others, with Adriana Palao, Konstantin Peyrer and Jerelyn Adeshola Mary Beckley.

WFM Adriana Palao 🇵🇪: "I love sacrificing queens"

Arne Kähler talks to Adriana Palao | Video: ChessBase

IM Konstantin Peyrer 🇦🇹: "I don't want a board."

Veronika Exler talks to Konstantin Peyrer | Video: ChessBase

Jerelyn Adeshola Mary Beckley 🇸🇱: "In 10 years I can beat Magnus Carlsen"

Arne Kähler talks to Jerelyn Adeshola Mary Beckley | Video: ChessBase

GM Ediz Gurel 🇹🇷: "Chess smells like potatoes and salt"

Arne Kähler talks to Ediz Gurel | Video: ChessBase

Polina Karelina 🇧🇸: "I would like a tea set (from Samarkand)"

Arne Kähler talks to Polina Karelina | Video: ChessBase

More interviews are available on the ChessBase channel: ChessBase on YouTube

ChessBase has also created a dedicated page for the Chess Olympiad, where the games can be followed by team. The standings and much more can also be found on the page: ChessBase's Chess Olympiad page.

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See also

Samarkand R1 (women): Nine teams from the top ten score 4-0 victories

9/17/2026 – India began their women's Chess Olympiad title defence in Samarkand as the top seeds, ahead of Georgia, Kazakhstan, China and the United States. The leading teams made a comfortable start, with nine of the top ten seeds winning 4–0 and no major upsets on individual boards. England's 11-year-old top board Bodhana Sivanandan also opened with a win, defeating Hanna Wilson of Barbados. | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
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Samarkand R1 (open): Favourites win comfortably, Thailand's Laohawirapap upsets Erigaisi

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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Video

60m English Anti-Bayonet

King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.