9/26/2026 – In the endgame, the king is considered a powerful piece and often joins the action to support his side. In the opening and middlegame, however, it rarely moves unless under attack. In a nice game from round 9 of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, GM Alexei Sarana, European Champion 2025, showed that there is an exception to every rule and went walkabout with his king. | Picture: Alexei Sarana (left, with White) shares ideas with Bahne Fuhrmann (right)

9/26/2026 – Eleven rounds, 206 teams in the Open, 185 in the Women's event – thousands of games are played at the Chess Olympiad. Most attention goes to the games on the top boards, while many entertaining and interesting games go unnoticed. But at the ChessBase booth in Samarkand, ChessBase invites Olympiad players to show us their best games. Colin Pace from Malta (right in the photo) used the chance. | Left in the photo: ChessBase author Bahne Fuhrmann