Uzbekistan lead on home soil, China and Armenia a match point behind

Uzbekistan reached the rest day as the sole leaders of the Chess Olympiad after beating defending champions India 2½–1½ in one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament.

The encounter brought together the winners of the last two Olympiads, as well as two remarkably young teams. Uzbekistan's oldest representatives, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, are both 24, while four of India's five players are aged between 20 and 23. Vidit Gujrathi, at 31, is the only "veteran" in the Indian squad.

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

There was little to separate the teams for most of the match. Three of the four games remained balanced throughout and ended drawn, leaving the board-three encounter between Nodirbek Yakubboev and Nihal Sarin to decide the result.

The all-important clash between Uzbekistan and India is about to begin, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu on the top board | Photo: Michal Walusza

Yakubboev capitalises on late error

Nihal, playing black, had actually emerged from the middlegame with the more promising position. Yakubboev had committed himself to making the most of his initiative on the kingside against the weakened black monarch, but while short on time he failed to find the most accurate continuations.

That allowed Nihal to take over. The Indian then began playing quickly, apparently trying to keep the pressure on his opponent's clock, and first made a mistake with 36...Kxg5? and then blundered with 37...Nf5?. At that moment he still had 29 minutes remaining, compared with only 3 for Yakubboev.

White can now play the formidable 38.Ne6+ Rxe6 39.gxh4+, with a discovered attack against the queen on c7 (with the black knight on d6, this would not have been possible).

The resulting position left Yakubboev with a queen against a rook and bishop in an open position, and the advantage proved straightforward to convert.

The win took Yakubboev to 4½/5, making him Uzbekistan's leading individual scorer.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Since Uzbekistan, India and Germany had entered the round on 10/10 match points, and Germany were subsequently defeated by China, the hosts now stand alone on a perfect 12/12 heading into Tuesday's rest day.

Nihal Sarin cannot believe what has just happened | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

The man of the hour - Nodirbek Yakubboev | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

China and Armenia keep pace

China and Armenia both began the round one point behind the leaders and took advantage of the direct clashes above them to move into joint second on 11/12.

China defeated Germany 3–1, with Ding Liren beating Vincent Keymer and Xu Xiangyu defeating Alexander Donchenko.

Ding converted a slightly superior endgame with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops, gradually increasing the pressure until Keymer could no longer hold the position.

Keymer would have kept good drawing chances with 34...Rh7 here, as getting rid of the white pawn on the h-file will highly hamper Ding's path to victory. Instead, his 34...Rb7?! turned out to be a bit passive.

Ding continued to make progress and soon found himself in a completely winning position. On the last move before reaching the time control, he played the precise 40.f5 to break through on the kingside.

40...Bd7 41.h5! followed, and Keymer had to resign the game ten moves later.

Your Calculation Compass: Know When to Calculate

In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves

Xu's win was more strategic in nature. From a Petroff Defence, he reached a middlegame in which his bishop pair proved too powerful against Donchenko's two knights once the position began to simplify.

Vincent Keymer resigns the game against former world champion Ding Liren, who has so far scored 4½/6 for China on board one | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Armenia had a narrower path to victory, edging Iran 2½–1½. Gabriel Sargissian scored the only decisive point, defeating Reza Mahdavi with black on board four after the Iranian player's pieces became overextended and lost coordination in the middlegame.

35...Ne7 is the only move that keeps Black's large advantage in this unorthodox position. Sargissian played it quickly and soon broke apart White's flimsy assembly of infiltrated pieces. By move 40, it was Black's passer on the d-file which became the protagonist in the position.

Sargissian, who had little trouble making the most of his advantage from here on, is now Armenia's top scorer with 4½/5.

Notably, Uzbekistan, China and Armenia - the three teams currently occupying the top places - have yet to lose a single individual game after six rounds.

Gabriel Sargissian | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Eleven teams form the chasing group

Behind the frontrunners sits a large group of 11 teams on 10/12 match points. India and Germany dropped into that pack after their defeats on Monday. They are joined by four other members of the original top ten -the United States, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan and France - as well as England, Türkiye, Greece, Bulgaria and Uzbekistan 2.

The United States beat Norway thanks to Hans Niemann's victory, while Azerbaijan defeated Argentina with Aydin Suleymanli scoring the decisive point. England and France drew a hard-fought match, while Türkiye and Greece made more comfortable progress against Switzerland and Indonesia respectively.

Bulgaria and Uzbekistan 2 were the two sides to join this group by scoring upset wins, as they defeated Ukraine and Spain, respectively.

France v. England featured wins for Marc'Andria Maurizzi over Gawain Maroroa Jones and for Michael Adams over Etienne Bacrot | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Hans Niemann made the most of a late blunder by Norway's Frode Urkedal, and thus bounced back from his round-five loss in the Americans' match against Germany - team captain John Donaldson congratules the 23-year-old on his achievement | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Out of all the players in this group, Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus stands out, as he has so far scored 4½/5 points against strong opposition, with a 2924 tournament performance rating which remarkably leaves him in 18^th place in the live ratings list.

On Monday, Erdogmus came from behind to beat Switzerland's Sebastian Bogner.

Black is better here, and would keep the advantage with 51...Nxe4. However, Bogner faltered with 51...Qb7??, which is in fact losing. Erdogmus, with less than a minute on the clock, found the refutation: 52.Rh8 (threatening to capture on h6) Rg5 53.Qd6 Qd7 54.Qf8

The major pieces have infiltrated Black's kingisde with decisive effect! After 54...Nh7 55.Qg8+ Kf6 56.Qxh7 there is no saving Black's position.

Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Israel forfeit amid Yom Kippur dispute

The Netherlands, meanwhile, received a 4–0 victory over Israel after the Israeli team forfeited all four boards because of Yom Kippur, whose observance this year ran from sunset on Sunday until after dusk on Monday.

Israel had already played their round-five match against Singapore on Sunday at an earlier time and in a different setting. For round six, the Israeli delegation proposed playing the Netherlands either later on Monday night or on Tuesday's rest day.

The Netherlands declined those alternatives and were awarded the match victory.

The Israeli Chess Federation later published a letter from FIDE confirming that adjustments to the team's schedule had been discussed in order to accommodate Yom Kippur. The federation is considering further steps over the matter, arguing that it had expected arrangements to be made that would avoid a sporting disadvantage.

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's

Standings after round 6

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

...205 teams

All games - Round 6

Find all games on Live.ChessBase.com

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's