01/10/2026
We conclude our Olympiad review with a kaleidoscope of pictures that represent our 2 weeks trip.
The 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 has come to a close this weekend and with our teams safely back home we can start a post mortem analysis of FIDE flagship team event of the year.
The tournament was won by Uzbekistan in the Open category and China in the Women section. The government of Uzbekistan was so happy about this triumph on home soil that each player was awarded a House, a Volkswagen car and 200,000 USD cash prize.
This Olympiad will definitely be remembered by its spectacular outdoor opening ceremony, the well decorated playing hall and Expo venue, the well stocked snacks and refreshments during play and the army of volunteers on hand to help the 200 participating countries. The welcome was VIP from airport to Hotel, with police security on hand and police escorts for buses carrying players to the venue.
The main issue we had at this Samarkand Olympiad was the below par accommodation and food served at the 3 stars family hotel Al Bukhory. Normally at an Olympiad standard accommodation is 4 stars hotel and buffet menu, here we were served local dishes with little variety and on a set menu. After a few days our players started to get sick and had to supplement the meals with pizzas/KFC. Moreover there was no place to analyze our games and we had to do it in the courtyard where temperature fell from 30 to 15 degrees at night which led to players catching cold. We made complaints but horror stories from other teams saying that they had to sleep 3 persons in a room or have to share bathroom with 10 persons, made us realize that elsewhere may not be better. The only great thing about this hotel was its owners, Mr Aslam, his son and Javlov the manager who attended to all our requests. They told us that concerning the food served it was according to the budget they were given, which we understood. Another advantage of this hotel was its location, only 300 metres from the Siyob Bazar and our players could do some shopping after the preparation of their games.Cost of living is very cheap as Inter-city taxi fares is between Rs 40 to Rs 150.Food combo is reasonable at Rs 200 per person.
Now coming to the Competition itself, the Open team fared well below its seeded rank of 156th to the 168th place. Their 3 wins were against Burkina Faso, Belize and US Virgin islands and the 2 draws against Eswantini and Nicaragua. They lost logically against Peru, Thailand, Cape Verde, Jordan, Mozambique and Liechtenstein. It is incredible that in the last round Stefan Lee Luen Mang, Rayen Sawmynaden and Stephane Lam Kin Cheung were on course for either a CM or FM titles. Sadly they all lost and let go of a missed opportunity. The under-perfomance of Board 2 player CM Hoolan Naipal who scored only half point in 8 games, severely impacted results of the Open team. The other members had creditable scores, with Stephane Lam Kin Cheung bringing 5 points, Stefan Lee Luen Mang chipping in 3.5 points, Devarajan Chinasamy scoring 4 points and Rayen Sawmynaden 3.5 points. Stefan Lee Luen Mang even gained some Elo points that enable him to cross the 1900 Elo level in the October rating list.
He played solid chess but was outplayed by strong opponents on board 1. His game against IM Mariano Ortega Amarelle 2375 Elo from Cape Verde was particularly instructive in how Masters win against lower rated opposition. The IM exchanged Stefan Lee light square bishop and engineered a mating attack on the weakened long diagonal, h1-a8.
Stephane Lam missed 2 chances to get a FM elect title, but he lost against 2 Fide Masters. His 5 points haul is the best of the Open team and he can build on that in the future.
On the Women side, Aamirah Beekhy and Meritza Acham had to rest, bogged down by flu. This hiccup led to our target plan to make a run for the WFM for Meritza Acham in tatters. Meritza Acham scored 5 points out of 9 games and if only she could have rested against Barbados or Lithuania and play the easy match against Somalia then the WFM title could have become a reality. (6 points out of 9 games is sufficient for the WFM title).
The Women team seeded 148th finish in 141st place on 9 points. They beat Grenada, Dominica, Somalia, Namibia and drew against Guam. Their losses were against Lithuania, Barbados, Guatemala, Mozambique, Japan and Ivory Coast.
There was definite progress in both results and the way they play, especially the three WCM Chethanah Andhin, Meritza Acham and Aamirah Beekhy. They fought hard when under pressure and made winning counter-attacks in Beekhy game against Somalia and Chethanah Andhin game against Namibia.
The pleasant surprise of the team came from Tehja Andhin who bagged the WCM title on 3.5 points out of 7 games. This is the fourth consecutive Chess Olympiad that the Women team bring WCM titles under the stewardship of their coach CM Patrick Li Ying.
The newcomer of the team Manusha Aubeeluck managed 2 points which is creditable for a debut, no doubt she will have learnt much from this first Chess Olympiad and will be motivated to make the team again.
On the international side we have a new FIDE President in Timur Turlov (Kazakhstan) for the next 4 years. We were pleasantly surprised to see the First Lady of the Republic of Seychelles, Veronique Herminie, present in the playing hall to make the ceremonial first move during a round.
Before signing off we wish to thank the Uzbekistan government to have organized this beautiful event, the warm hospitality bestowed to us and the kindness of the Uzbek people, specially the 3 girls volunteers attached to our team Malvuda, Jansaya and Umida, will be forever in our hearts.
Let's bid farewell to Samarkand who will be forever an Olympiad City and let's Welcome Abu Dhabi (2028) the next Olympiad venue.
