Egon Mattaaq: His tournament debut at the Olympiad

by Johannes Fischer
9/21/2026 – In April, 24-year-old Egon Mattaaq, who lives in Upernavik in northwestern Greenland, won the country's first official national championship. Ten players took part, and Mattaaq won with 6 out of 7. Because of the great distances within the country, the tournament was played online. In Samarkand, Greenland is taking part in a Chess Olympiad for the first time, and for Mattaaq it is also the first tournament in which he is playing over the board against real-life opponents. Arne Kähler spoke to him during the Olympiad.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.

"I was committed 110% to chess," Mattaaq explains. He only started playing chess four years ago, online. He had hardly anyone to play against locally, so until his son was born two years ago, he played online “morning till night”. This brought his online rating to almost 2200. Before the Olympiad, however, Mattaaq had never played in a FIDE-rated tournament. The Greenland Chess Federation was founded in 2014 and only joined FIDE in 2024. As a result, Mattaaq started the Olympiad in Samarkand without an official rating.

Getting to the Olympiad was not easy either. To travel from his home to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, he first had to take a boat to the nearest town and then three flights. From Nuuk he travelled on to Denmark and from there via several stops to Samarkand. Delays made the journey even longer.

After five rounds, he has scored 1½ out of 5. He lost his first two games, but scored his first Olympiad victory in round three against WCM Gerda Nevska.

ChessBase is on site at the Olympiad. Arne Kähler and Veronika Exler are interviewing participants at the Olympiad to learn more about their passion for chess and their chess careers. Their goal is to interview at least one member of every team at the Olympiad to get an impression of how chess is played around the world.

At the ChessBase booth, the ChessBase team answers questions about ChessBase and is always happy when players stop by to tell stories and show their games.

_REPLACE_BY_ADV_1

Links
<< Chess Olympiad - Live!
How can humans prosper in the AI era? Child's play >>
Topics: Chess Olympiad 2026, Egon Mattaaq, Interviews
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Samarkand R5 (open): Germany stun USA, share the lead with India and Uzbekistan

9/21/2026 – India, Uzbekistan and Germany emerged from round five with perfect 10/10 match scores after winning their clashes against fellow co-leaders. Germany defeated top seeds United States 2½–1½, with Frederik Svane (pictured) scoring the decisive win over Hans Niemann, while India beat the Netherlands and Uzbekistan swept Hungary 4–0. China and Armenia drew 2–2 and now stand one match point behind the leading group. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
More...
 5

See also

Samarkand R4 (women): United States set the pace with 15/16 board points

9/20/2026 – The United States continued their strong start in the Women’s Chess Olympiad, reaching 15/16 individual points as ten teams are now tied for first on 8/8 match points. Alice Lee leads the Americans with a perfect 4/4, while her teammates Carissa Yip (pictured) and Tatev Abrahamyan have perfect 3/3 scores. Like Lee, five other players from the co-leading teams have also won all four of their games. Sunday’s fifth round features key clashes between the leaders. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE
More...
 2

Video

60m How to fight Queen's Pawn Openigns

After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.