Germany Beats Unbeaten Uzbekistan and Opens a Medal Window

Germany beat unbeaten hosts Uzbekistan 2.5-1.5 in round eight of the 46th Chess Olympiad, ending a 7/7 start in Samarkand. The teams share the lead on 14/16 match points, with three rounds left in an 11-round Swiss.

The Svane brothers scored both German wins on the bottom boards. Round 9 is set for Friday, September 25, at 3 p.m. local time (GMT+5), with Uzbekistan facing the United States and Germany facing India.

Two Brothers Break the Host’s Perfect Start

Until Thursday, Uzbekistan had not lost a match or even a single board. Javokhir Sindarov, rated 2778, kept that personal run going on board two, beating Matthias Bluebaum in a heavy-piece ending to reach 5.5/7. That was the hosts’ only full point.

Rasmus Svane finished first. After 15…Nf4, Shamsiddin Vokhidov used three of his 52 minutes and played 16.Be4, a move Rasmus later called an extremely lucky blunder because 16.Qf3 was still available. Black won an exchange for nothing and converted.

Frederik Svane, watching that game turn, said he did not know whether to play for a win or a draw in a messy position against Nodirbek Yakubboev. He chose a kingside attack and the desperado 16.Nxf7, and it landed. FIDE’s round report said the brothers delivered the decisive blows on boards three and four, covering Bluebaum’s loss.

Board one was the last to end. Vincent Keymer, playing White against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, had a pawn extra in the ending and still could not win. Abdusattorov held. Uzbekistan needed two wins to save the match by then and never came close. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE president from 1995 to 2018 and an honorary citizen of Samarkand, had made the ceremonial first move on that board. Germany captain Jan Gustafsson spent much of the session in a book.

I can’t remember such a huge win and such a good position for our team. With three rounds to go, we have all the chances in the world!

Rasmus Svane, Germany board four, after beating Shamsiddin Vokhidov

Rasmus also said he was completely ecstatic, because Vokhidov had surprised him in the opening and he had already felt the advantage slipping. Frederik now has 6.5/8 and a 2811 performance, the best board-three mark in the field, with a plus of 16.3 rating points. Rasmus has 4/5. Keymer is on 4/7. Bluebaum is on 3.5/7. Alexander Donchenko, who sat this match, is on 3.5/5.

The Only Side to Beat All Three Uzbek Teams

Hosts get three teams. Germany has played all of them, and won all of them. No other squad in Samarkand can say that. The German federation’s own results sheet lists Germany’s board-by-board scores against the home sides and everyone else.

GERMANY AGAINST THE THREE UZBEK TEAMS

• Round 2: Germany beat Uzbekistan 3 by 3.5-0.5 on September 17.
• Round 3: Germany beat Uzbekistan 2 the next afternoon, a result FIDE press officer Michael Rahal flagged in real time as a consecutive home-side scalp.
• Round 8: Germany beat the first team 2.5-1.5, inflicting Uzbekistan’s first match defeat and first board defeats of the event.

They had already taken a similar 2.5-1.5 off top seeds the United States in round 5, with Frederik beating Hans Niemann. Seeded fifth, this is a team that keeps winning the matches the table says it should not. The lower boards are the method. Against Turkiye, the brothers both won while Keymer and Bluebaum drew. Against Uzbekistan, they did it again while Sindarov won on board two.

That is the strike India built its own board order to land. Gukesh Dommaraju, who scored 9/10 on board one in Budapest, is listed fourth in Samarkand so he can farm points against other teams’ last boards. On Thursday he had a winning equal-material ending against Mahammad Muradli and did not convert. India drew 2-2 with Azerbaijan on four draws and stayed on 13. Germany, doing the job on boards three and four, moved onto 14.

Germany’s Last Team Medal Came in Istanbul

The last German Open team medal was silver at the 34th Olympiad in Istanbul in 2000. Russia took gold with 38 board points. Germany scored 37 with Artur Yusupov, Robert Huebner, Rustem Dautov, Christopher Lutz, Klaus Bischoff and Thomas Luther. That is a 26-year wait, covering every Olympiad from Bled 2002 through Budapest 2024.

Individual board medals never fully stopped. Dautov won bronze on board three in Istanbul. Daniel Fridman took board-four bronze in Dresden and Istanbul. Frederik Svane won reserve gold in Budapest in 2024, which is why he is in this five-man group with Keymer, Bluebaum, Donchenko and Rasmus under Gustafsson. Team podiums did stop. Germany finished 18th in the Open in 2022.

The Istanbul side was built around Huebner’s generation. This one is built around Keymer, 21, and two brothers who can both beat 2650-plus grandmasters on demand. Rasmus said he could not remember a German win this large. The table now agrees with him, with the caveat that Uzbekistan’s first-tiebreak score is still 241.5 against Germany’s 208, a 33.5-point gap left over from those seven whitewashes. If the two finish on the same match points, the hosts stay above them.

A Logjam of Eight Teams on 13 Points

Match points decide the medals, with board points used only for ties. A win is two match points, a draw one. That is why a 2.5-1.5 and a 3.5-0.5 pay the same, and why eight teams on 13 are still alive with three rounds to play.

OPEN STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8

China beat Poland 2.5-1.5. Wei Yi, undefeated on 5.5/7, won with 32…Qxf3, a queen sacrifice that cleared the h-pawn to queen. Ding Liren drew Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The United States smashed Serbia 3.5-0.5, with Fabiano Caruana trapping Alexey Sarana’s queen after 24.Rxg7, plus wins from Niemann and Awonder Liang. Levon Aronian, watching Niemann repeat a 2017 Aronian-Carlsen line, said Niemann got lucky that his opponent did not know it.

The Netherlands and Armenia drew 2-2. Jorden van Foreest has 6.5/7 and a 2972 performance, the highest in the tournament on any board, and he underpromoted to a knight against Robert Hovhannisyan. Shant Sargsyan beat Loek van Wely to split the match. Uzbekistan 2 beat England 2.5-1.5. Turkiye’s 15-year-old board one, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, holds a 2893 performance among top-board players after drawing Keymer earlier in the event.

THE BOARD LEADERS AFTER EIGHT ROUNDS

• Any board: Jorden van Foreest is on 6.5/7 with a 2972 performance for the Netherlands.
• Board three: Frederik Svane is on 6.5/8 with a 2811 performance for Germany.
• Board two: Sindarov’s 2864 performance is not the best on his board, even after another win.
• Top boards: Erdogmus, 15 and rated 2716, still holds the best performance among first-board players at 2893.

Sindarov’s rating and form remain Uzbekistan’s cleanest remaining weapon for Friday’s meeting with the United States.

China Goes Clear After a Late Squeeze on Board Four

The women’s event turned on two bottom boards. Fourth seed China beat second seed Georgia 2.5-1.5 and took the sole lead on 15 match points, still undefeated after seven wins and a draw. Three games were drawn. WGM Zhai Mo, 30, the oldest player in a young Chinese side and a team gold medallist from 2018, won the match with a mating attack after IM Lela Javakhishvili grabbed a poisoned piece. Sixteen-year-old IM Lu Miaoyi held GM Bella Khotenashvili from a pawn-down ending, giving up two pawns and a bishop to build a fortress, and sits on 6.5/8 on board three.

Kazakhstan looked set to join China on 15. IM Alua Nurman beat GM Vaishali Rameshbabu in a scramble where both players were under a minute by move 27. Koneru Humpy drew Bibisara Assaubayeva. Divya Deshmukh drew Meruert Kamalidenova. That left India 1-2 with one game left, and IM Savitha Shri B, 19, slightly worse in a drawish rook ending against WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet.

She won it anyway, in 62 moves, after 51…Rb7. The result was 2-2. Savitha was rested in round 5 against Poland, the match India lost, and has now scored 7 from 7 and a 2955 rating performance, 100 percent on the fourth board. It is her over-the-board Olympiad debut, after Harika Dronavalli sat the event out. The live list moved her above 2400.

Zhai Mo Punishes a Poisoned Piece

China arrived without Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi. Zhu Jiner still leads the order, with Song Yuxin, Lu, Yan Tianqi and Zhai. The 2018 veteran on board four is the reason they sit alone on 15. Georgia, nine-time women’s medallists, drop to 12 after the loss.

Savitha Shri Moves to Seven From Seven

India’s women are fifth on 13, but their 243.5 tiebreak is the best of anyone near the top. Kazakhstan, 16th seed Armenia and 15th seed Mongolia share 14. Armenia beat the United States 2.5-1.5, GM Elina Danielian defeating GM Irina Krush, who had fought back from a lost position before a mistake on move 40. IM Tatev Abrahamyan, short of time, swapped rooks on d1 instead of winning a piece. The Americans are on 11, four match points off China.

Mongolia beat Bulgaria 2.5-1.5, WGM Turmunkh Munkhzul winning the only decisive game. Hosts Uzbekistan beat the Netherlands 3-1. Greece, seeded 24th, beat Ukraine 2.5-1.5, IM Stavroula Tsolakidou becoming the first player to defeat WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn on top board. Six teams sit within two points of China.

Who Plays Whom on September 25?

Round 9 starts at 3 p.m. in Samarkand. In the Open, third-seed Uzbekistan has the United States, the original top seed, immediately after the first home defeat. Germany, the other team on 14, has defending champions India. No Open winner has defended the title since Armenia in 2006 and 2008. India is trying. Germany is trying to finish a medal that has been missing since 2000. Those two facts now share a table.

ROUND 9 AT THE TOP

• Open table 1: Uzbekistan (14) vs United States (13).
• Open table 2: India (13) vs Germany (14), with Praggnanandhaa R vs Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi vs Bluebaum, Nihal Sarin vs Frederik Svane, and Gukesh vs Donchenko.
• Open table 3: France (13) vs China (13).
• Women table 1: India (13) vs Uzbekistan (13).
• Women table 2: China (15) vs Armenia (14).
• Women table 3: Mongolia (14) vs Kazakhstan (14).

Germany sits Rasmus and puts Donchenko on board four against the world champion. Nihal returns on board three against the man with the 2811 performance. India needs a win to climb onto 15 and jump the group on 13. Germany can go to 16 and force Uzbekistan to keep pace against Caruana’s team. The board-point gap from the hosts’ 7/7 start is still 33.5 points. Match points are the only way Germany closes it.

Savitha’s women get the host side that just beat the Netherlands 3-1. China gets Armenia, the 16th seed already on 14. The 46th Olympiad runs through September 27, 11 rounds, four boards, two match points a win. Thursday gave Germany a result it had not had as a team since Istanbul. Friday asks whether that result was a one-day shock or the start of a podium.