Chess Olympiad - Live!

by ChessBase
9/16/2026 – The 46th edition of the Chess Olympiad is taking place on 16-27 September at the Silk Road EXPO in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A record 208 teams in the open and 191 in the women's category are fighting for collective and individual medals. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST)
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Round 1

Teams consist of 5 players, with 4-board matches taking place in each of the 11 rounds. Match points will decide the final standings in both events (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw).

The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes until the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move 1. The players cannot draw a game by mutual agreement before Black's 30th move. A claim for a draw before Black's 30th move is permitted only in case of threefold repetition or stalemate.

Schedule

  • Rounds 1-6: September 16-21
  • Rest day: September 22
  • Rounds 7-11: September 23-27

The action kicks off at 12.00 CEST from rounds 1 to 10, while the final round begins four hours earlier than usual, at 8.00 CEST.

A ChessBase team is on site in Samarkand and will report daily from the Chess Olympiad. The team shares a booth with DGT, is accessible to all visitors, and will give a preview of the upcoming Mac version of ChessBase!

Live games and commentary

Open

Women's

Official commentary by FIDE

Commentary provided by Peter Svidler, Cristian Chirila and Jakhongir Vakhidov

ChessBase for Mac

To be released in November: Find out more on macland.chessbase.com!

ChessBase

To be released in November: Find out more on macland.chessbase.com!

ChessBase

The ChessBase stand in Samarkand

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Topics: Chess Olympiad 2026
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