Luke McShane finished unbeaten for England, Tom O’Gorman scored eight points for Ireland, Bodhana Sivanandan played every round for England Women, and Alice Lampard gave Scotland a valuable return. Four individual performances that deserve more than a passing mention in the final standings.
The team medals rightly went to Uzbekistan in the Open and China in the Women’s section. There were board medals to celebrate as well. However, the Olympiad is much bigger than the names on the podium.
A player can have an excellent tournament while their team finishes outside the leading group, or win an important game in a match their country still loses. I have chosen four examples from the Home Nations coverage. This is an editorial selection, not a claim that these were the four best individual performances in Samarkand.
Four campaigns at a glance
| Player | Team | Score | Wins | Draws | Losses | Performance rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke McShane | England Open | 7½/10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2648 |
| Tom O’Gorman | Ireland Open | 8/10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2555 |
| Bodhana Sivanandan | England Women | 8/11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2432 |
| Alice Lampard | Scotland Women | 6/9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2059 |
Scores and performance ratings are taken from the final Chess-Results records. Performance ratings depend on the opponents faced. They are not a fair way to rank players from different boards and sections against each other.
Luke McShane: ten games without defeat
McShane scored five wins and five draws on England’s lower boards. The most striking result came in Round 7 when he beat 2718 rated Nihal Sarin with White. England still lost to India by 2½ to 1½. On the team sheet that was a defeat. On McShane’s individual record it was the outstanding win of an unbeaten campaign.
He also won against Luka Paichadze in Round 5 and finished with a performance rating of 2648, above his published starting rating of 2598. England ultimately finished 12th after recovering in the last three rounds.
Replay McShane against Nihal Sarin · Read England’s Open review · Official England team record
Tom O’Gorman: eight points and a strong finish
Ireland’s Tom O’Gorman scored seven wins, two draws and one loss. His 8/10 came with a tournament performance rating of 2555, against a published starting rating of 2380.
The Round 5 victory over Brazil’s Andre Diamant stands out. Diamant was rated 2504, 124 points higher than O’Gorman, but the Irish player won on board two. Brazil took the match 2½ to 1½. It is a useful example of why the match result should not be the end of the report.
O’Gorman went on to win his final three games, against Iraq, Yemen and Canada. Ireland finished 65th, just above their starting seed of 66. The team result was fairly close to expectation. His individual return was considerably stronger.
Replay O’Gorman against Andre Diamant · Read Ireland’s Open review · Official Ireland team record
Bodhana Sivanandan: eleven rounds on board one
Sivanandan played every match for England Women on the top board and returned six wins, four draws and one defeat. Her final 8/11 included draws against higher rated opponents such as Anastasiia Hnatyshyn and Nana Dzagnidze.
Her only defeat came against Peru’s Deysi Cori in Round 8. The response matters. Sivanandan drew against Estonia and Georgia, then beat Janelle Mae Frayna with Black in Round 11. That point helped England defeat the Philippines 2½ to 1½ and finish 15th, five places above their starting seed.
For a young player carrying the demands of board one throughout an eleven round Olympiad, the score deserves attention. It does not need an exaggerated claim about what she will become. The games are enough.
Replay Sivanandan against Frayna · Read England Women’s review · Official England team record
Alice Lampard: Scotland’s valuable lower board points
Alice Lampard began the Women’s section rated 1912 and scored 6/9 for Scotland, with five wins, two draws and two defeats. Chess-Results records a tournament performance rating of 2059.
Her win against Austria’s Elisabeth Hapala in Round 7 is the game to pick out. Hapala was rated 2090, a difference of 178 points. Scotland lost the match 2½ to 1½, but Lampard supplied one of its decisive results. She also beat Czech player Anna Lhotska, rated 2149, in Round 10.
Scotland Women finished 55th from seed 60. A team in that part of the table can disappear from the wider Olympiad headlines very quickly. Lampard’s results show why it is worth following all four boards, not just waiting for the top table.
Replay Lampard against Hapala · Read Scotland Women’s review · Official Scotland team record
What the final team table cannot show
These four campaigns are not identical. McShane was unbeaten; O’Gorman piled up seven wins; Sivanandan played every round at the top of England’s Women’s order; and Lampard scored important points from Scotland’s lower boards. Comparing their raw totals as though they played the same opposition would miss the point.
The wider lesson for our Olympiad coverage is straightforward. A country does not need to be fighting for gold to produce games worth watching. We have covered the team standings. Those individual boards deserve coverage as well.
Sources and further coverage
Results and individual performance ratings: Chess-Results Open final standings and Chess-Results Women’s final standings, with the linked team records above. For the medal context, see FIDE’s final Olympiad report. The linked Lichess studies provide game replays. For the tournament as a whole, visit the Inter Mezzo 2026 Olympiad hub.