Chess Olympiad 2026: India Wins Silver Medal in Samarkand

India managed to grab the silver medal in the 2026 Chess Olympiad held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan after the match draw against Hungary in round eleven (which was the last round) of the championship on 27 September. India concluded its campaign in the Chess Olympiad with 18 match points and 28.5 game points which was the same as Germany but managed to beat the latter on tiebreaks. Uzbekistan emerged victorious to claim the gold medal with 20 match points whereas Germany bagged the bronze medal.

Final Round: India Draws 2-2 with Hungary

India had a possibility of winning the gold medal in the finals of the 2026 Chess Olympiad if they win the match against Hungary and the match result of Uzbekistan vs Ukraine is favorable for them.

India finally drew 2-2 with Hungary where D Gukesh lost to Gleb Dudin, Arjun Erigaisi defeated Peter Leko, and the other two boards resulted in draws: R Praggnanandhaa drew with Richard Rapport and Nihal Sarin drew with Benjamin Gledura.

Arjun’s win was extremely important in winning the silver medal as Gukesh lost the match.

India vs Hungary: Final Round

Result India Hungary 2-2 Draw

Uzbekistan Takes Gold in Samarkand

Uzbekistan beat Ukraine in the final round to end the tournament on top with 20 match points and claim the gold medal. This marked their second Olympic gold after a memorable win last year in the Chess Olympiad.

The win also confirmed Uzbekistan’s growth into one of the teams to beat in international team chess tournaments. India had hoped that Uzbekistan would lose some match points against Ukraine in order to retain hopes for a gold medal, which did not happen.

The three top teams have placed in the following manner,

India and Germany had tied in the match points and game points. However, India clinched the silver medal with the help of tiebreak TB2 which was favorable for India with respect to Germany.

Route Taken by India for Silver Medal

India had been in the hunt for a gold medal up till the last round. India’s crucial defeat came in the hands of Uzbekistan, where Nihal Sarin was defeated by Nodirbek Yakubboev despite having an upper hand.

This defeat gave Uzbekistan a clear edge for winning the title. Germany also showed a great performance during the competition, where they defeated top seeded USA and became the only team to defeat Uzbekistan in the entire tournament.

India eventually finished in the second spot with 18 match points out of 11 rounds.

India and Uzbekistan in the Recently Completed Chess Olympiads

Thus, the results from 2026 are yet another page in the book of rivalry between India and Uzbekistan at the Chess Olympiad.

While Uzbekistan emerged victorious at the Chess Olympiad in 2022, India triumphed at the Chess Olympiad in 2024 in Budapest. In other words, the results of 2026 added up to a streak of successful performance on behalf of both countries in recent years.

For India, the win at the 2024 Chess Olympiad was especially memorable since India became the winner of the open section for the first time ever.