The 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 begins tomorrow in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The event runs from September 16 to 27. The first matches start at 10:00 AM UTC. The tournament features 208 national teams.

Rosters of the top 5 national teams by average rating:

USA (2753)

  • 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana (2789)
  • 🇺🇸 Wesley So (2774)
  • 🇺🇸 Levon Aronian (2725)
  • 🇺🇸 Hans Moke Niemann (2725)
  • 🇺🇸 Awonder Liang (2693)

India (2735)  

  • 🇮🇳 Praggnanandhaa R (2761)
  • 🇮🇳 Erigaisi Arjun (2759)
  • 🇮🇳 Nihal Sarin (2718)
  • 🇮🇳 Gukesh Dommaraju (2703)
  • 🇮🇳 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2697)

Uzbekistan (2720)  

  • 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov (2778)
  • 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2762)
  • 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Yakubboev (2685)
  • 🇺🇿 Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2654)
  • 🇺🇿 Mukhiddin Madaminov (2611)

China (2707)  

  • 🇨🇳 Wei Yi (2752)
  • 🇨🇳 Ding Liren (2733)
  • 🇨🇳 Yu Yangyi (2710)
  • 🇨🇳 Xu Xiangyu (2631)
  • 🇨🇳 Kong Xiangrui (2549)

Germany (2677)  

  • 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer (2764)
  • 🇩🇪 Matthias Bluebaum (2662)
  • 🇩🇪 Frederik Svane (2655)
  • 🇩🇪 Alex Donchenko (2625)
  • 🇩🇪 Rasmus Svane (2610)

The event features a 90+0 time control for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game over 11 Swiss rounds. Teams earn 2 points for winning a match, 1 for drawing, and 0 for losing.

The Chess Olympiad is a prestigious national team competition. The event is held every two years and organized by FIDE. The 2026 Olympiad follows the 2024 edition held in Budapest, Hungary, where India won gold in both the men’s and women’s groups.

Credit: ChessBase India Facebook