Uzbekistan beat the United States 2½–1½ in Round 9 and returned to the sole lead of the Open. Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So levelled against Javokhir Sindarov, and Nodirbek Yakubboev won the deciding game against Hans Niemann. Uzbekistan have 16 match points with two rounds left.
India beat Germany 2½–1½ through Gukesh's win over Alexander Donchenko. Uzbekistan 2 went further, beating the Netherlands 3½–½. Jakhongir Vakhidov's win against Anish Giri was a 230-point rating upset. India, Uzbekistan 2 and Armenia are all one match point behind the leaders. France and China drew 2–2.
In the Women's section, China beat Armenia 3–1 and moved to 17 match points. India beat Uzbekistan 3–1 and sit two points back alongside Kazakhstan and Mongolia. For the Home Nations, England won both matches, Wales won both, Ireland Open won, and Scotland Women edged Panama. Scotland Open drew with Australia; Ireland Women lost to Türkiye.
England Open: two wins against Peru
England beat Peru 3–1. Nikita Vitiugov beat Jorge Cori and Gawain Jones beat Steven Rojas Salas. Luke McShane and Daniel Fernandez drew their games.
Game of the Match: Jorge Cori–Nikita Vitiugov. Cori pushed his centre in a Nimzo-Indian, while Vitiugov kept his pieces active and looked for a way in. The position did not settle quickly. Cori's 30.g3 gave Black more to work with, but Vitiugov's 32...Qb6 was not the strongest continuation either.
After 34.Rb2, Black took over the initiative. Cori kept playing, but 42.Rxb3 allowed another wave of pressure against the king. The game ended after 43.Kg4 Rg5+. Vitiugov's win, together with Jones's point, gave England the match.
Jones won on board two. McShane drew German Gonzalo Quirhuayo Chumbe, and Fernandez drew Fernando Miguel Fernandez Sanchez. England are 25th on 12 match points, up from 36th after Round 8. They remain below their 11th-place starting rank.
England Women: Hunt and Mirzoeva make the difference
England Women beat Estonia 3–1. Harriet Hunt and Elmira Mirzoeva won, while Bodhana Sivanandan and Jovanka Houska drew.
Game of the Match: Harriet Hunt–Sofia Blokhin. This was the opposite of a quick point. Their Sicilian became a difficult ending, and the balance changed more than once. Blokhin's 42...e5 gave Hunt a chance, but Hunt's 47.Kf3 and 49.e5 let Black back into the game.
Another turn came around move 50. The players kept going all the way to 104.Bxa5, when Hunt had secured the win. It was one of England's two decisive boards, and a reminder that the final 3–1 score hides a good deal of work.
Mirzoeva beat Grete Olde. Sivanandan drew Mai Narva on board one, and Houska drew Margareth Olde. England Women are 13th on 13 match points, six places higher than after Round 8.
Scotland Open: Vijayakumar wins, Australia hold the match
Scotland drew 2–2 with Australia. Rishi Vijayakumar beat Rishi Sardana, Konstantinos Megalios lost to David Smerdon, and Frederick Waldhausen Gordon and Murad Abdulla drew.
Game of the Match: Rishi Sardana–Rishi Vijayakumar. Vijayakumar, rated 2387, beat the 2518-rated Sardana with Black. It counts as a 131-point rating upset. His King's Indian was not comfortable throughout. The study marks 21...g4 and 23...Nxh4 as chances for White to take more from the position.
Sardana's 27.Bxg7 let Black seize the initiative again. There were more changes before Vijayakumar finished the job. It was Scotland's only win and it cancelled out Megalios's defeat, leaving the match level.
Gordon drew Temur Kuybokarov on board one and Abdulla drew James Morris on board four. Scotland are 52nd on 11 match points, eight places higher than after Round 8.
Scotland Women: two wins edge Panama
Scotland Women beat Panama 2½–1½. Kanishka Bhatia and Alice Lampard won; Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant drew and Eve Clark lost.
Game of the Match: Layla Caicedo Rios–Kanishka Bhatia. Bhatia played the French Exchange with Black. The game was still contested late into the middlegame. White's 31.Nd2 allowed 31...Nxd4, giving Bhatia the stronger position.
Caicedo Rios fought on through the exchanges, but Bhatia held the advantage into the ending and won. Lampard's point completed the two wins Scotland needed; the draw on board one took them over the line.
Lampard beat Mariana Lobo Jimenez, Arakhamia-Grant drew Ashley Castillo Beitia, and Clark lost to Keytleen Chavarria Troya. Scotland Women are 53rd on 11 match points, up from 74th after Round 8.
Wales Open: three wins against Afghanistan
Wales beat Afghanistan 3½–½. Jonathan Blackburn, Iwan Cave and Alex Bullen won; Ifan Rathbone-Jones drew.
Game of the Match: Iwan Cave–Homayoun Mohtaat. Cave's King's Indian was not as direct as the team score might suggest. His 19.Nh4 and later 28.a3 both gave Black opportunities, but Mohtaat missed the stronger replies. After 28...Nef4, Cave had another chance to reorganise.
Cave then pushed his passed a-pawn to a6 and won. The study stops after 48.a6, so there is no need to invent a promotion that does not appear in the recorded game. It was his second straight individual win for Wales.
Blackburn beat Habibullah Amini, Bullen beat Sulaiman Ahmad Ashrafi, and Rathbone-Jones drew S. Wahabuddin Mirzaad. Wales are 82nd on 10 match points, up from 94th after Round 8.
Wales Women: Camp finishes with checkmate
Wales Women beat Chinese Taipei 3½–½. Olivia Smith, Imogen Camp and Susanna Fraser won. Emma Kong drew.
Game of the Match: Chi Chen–Imogen Camp. Camp played actively against Chen's Queen's Pawn setup. White's 20.Bf2 allowed Black to win material, and the pressure did not let up. Even after a few defensive tries, Camp kept the attack moving towards the king.
This game has an unambiguous ending on the board: 36...Ng3#. Camp's checkmate supplied one of Wales's three wins in a convincing response to the Round 8 defeat.
Smith beat Tansi Tung Wu, Fraser beat Pei-Xuan Wu, and Kong drew Fan-Hsuan Kung. Wales Women are 96th on nine match points, up from 115th after Round 8.
Ireland Open: Baburin adds the third win
Ireland beat Iraq 3½–½. Tarun Kanyamarala, Tom O'Gorman and Alexander Baburin won. Kavin Venkatesan drew.
Game of the Match: Ali Layth Ahmed Alothman–Alexander Baburin. Baburin's game lasted 57 moves. Alothman's 27.Rc8+ let Black force exchanges and take a stronger position, though Baburin's 31...Kf8 gave White a chance to resist. Neither player found a straight route through the ending.
White's 36.h4 and 39.Kd3 made the defensive task harder. Baburin kept his king active and won after 57...Kd4. That was Ireland's third decisive point of the match.
Kanyamarala beat Salah Mohammed Zozek and O'Gorman beat Ali Ehsan Aryan. Venkatesan drew Dhahir Habeeb Muazaz. Ireland are 69th on 10 match points, up from 85th after Round 8.
Ireland Women: two draws against Türkiye
Ireland Women lost 3–1 to Türkiye. Trisha Kanyamarala and Antonina Gora drew; Lara Putar and Diana Mirza lost. Ireland had no decisive win in the match.
Game of the Match: Ekaterina Atalik–Trisha Kanyamarala. Kanyamarala had Black in a Queen's Pawn game. The position stayed close through the middlegame, with neither player securing a lasting advantage. White's queen checks near the end, including 35.Qc8+ and 37.Qc8+, led to the draw.
Gora also drew Beren Kalyoncu. Putar lost to Gulenay Aydin and Mirza lost to Ceren Tirpan. Ireland Women are 69th on 10 match points, down from 58th after Round 8.
Home Nations after Round 9
| Team | Round 9 result | Rank | MP | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England Open | Beat Peru 3–1 | 25 | 12 | 22½ |
| England Women | Beat Estonia 3–1 | 13 | 13 | 26½ |
| Scotland Open | Drew with Australia 2–2 | 52 | 11 | 23½ |
| Scotland Women | Beat Panama 2½–1½ | 53 | 11 | 19½ |
| Wales Open | Beat Afghanistan 3½–½ | 82 | 10 | 22 |
| Wales Women | Beat Chinese Taipei 3½–½ | 96 | 9 | 19 |
| Ireland Open | Beat Iraq 3½–½ | 69 | 10 | 22 |
| Ireland Women | Lost to Turkiye 1–3 | 69 | 10 | 19 |
Home Nations hub and team pages
Wider Olympiad: Uzbekistan lead, China extend their advantage
Abdusattorov's win over Caruana was the headline individual result in the Open. Sindarov lost to So, but Yakubboev beat Niemann to settle the United States match 2½–1½. Germany's win over the hosts in Round 8 was a setback, not the end of Uzbekistan's campaign.
India beat Germany on Gukesh's board-four win. Uzbekistan 2's 3½–½ victory over the Netherlands was even more striking: Vakhidov beat Giri, Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov beat Loek van Wely, and Ortik Nigmatov beat Erwin l'Ami. Armenia beat Azerbaijan 2½–1½. Uzbekistan lead on 16 match points, with India, Uzbekistan 2 and Armenia on 15.
China's Women beat Armenia 3–1 through wins by Zhu Jiner and Lu Miaoyi. India beat Uzbekistan by the same score, with Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal winning. Kazakhstan and Mongolia drew 2–2, leaving both on 15 match points. China have 17. Their Round 10 meeting with India matters, but China's two-point lead is real.
Open Top 10 after Round 9
| Rank | Team | MP | TB2 | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uzbekistan | 16 | 292½ | 26½ |
| 2 | India | 15 | 262 | 23 |
| 3 | Uzbekistan 2 | 15 | 249½ | 24 |
| 4 | Armenia | 15 | 241 | 23½ |
| 5 | China | 14 | 260½ | 24 |
| 6 | Germany | 14 | 254 | 23 |
| 7 | France | 14 | 248½ | 24 |
| 8 | Spain | 14 | 239½ | 24½ |
| 9 | Ukraine | 14 | 233 | 23½ |
| 10 | Hungary | 14 | 196 | 19½ |
Women’s Top 10 after Round 9
| Rank | Team | MP | TB2 | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 17 | 299 | 28 |
| 2 | India | 15 | 305 | 27 |
| 3 | Kazakhstan | 15 | 274 | 24½ |
| 4 | Mongolia | 15 | 243½ | 23½ |
| 5 | France | 14 | 262½ | 26½ |
| 6 | Armenia | 14 | 250 | 23½ |
| 7 | Poland | 14 | 245½ | 23½ |
| 8 | Vietnam | 14 | 234 | 25 |
| 9 | Indonesia | 14 | 219½ | 24½ |
| 10 | Greece | 14 | 206 | 23 |
Upsets of the Olympiad: Round 9
An upset here means a decisive, completed game in which a player with a published numeric rating beat a higher-rated opponent. Draws, forfeits and games involving an unrated player are excluded.
The Open produced 72 qualifying upsets. The Women’s section produced 56. These were the ten largest rating gaps in each section:
| # | Open winner | Rating gap | Women’s winner | Rating gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khaled Seyam over Jaime Sonhy | 316 | Kai Ni Agnes Chong over Olga Badelka | 400 |
| 2 | Souminta Yomvilath over Tieta Apadinuwe | 284 | Kate Attieh over Walijah Ahmed | 358 |
| 3 | Michael Jr. Concio over Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | 251 | Flor De Maria Zarate Oyague over Davaademberel Nomin-Erdene | 296 |
| 4 | Bernard Anhwere over Diogo Alho | 247 | Ndlovu Carol over Mia Fernanda Guzman Garcia | 289 |
| 5 | Ayden Dirks over Nilson Cardenas Carbajal | 237 | Siphosethu Mkhweli over Shrouq Ali Alreshidi | 285 |
| 6 | Jakhongir Vakhidov over Anish Giri | 230 | Antonia Christodoulaki over Meri Arabidze | 269 |
| 7 | Khalid Mafaaz over Carlos Roberto Ibarra | 226 | Abdul Rasheed Mariyam Laisa over Rinesa Saraci | 251 |
| 8 | Yasser Hadj Kholti over Nderim Saraci | 215 | Sunwoo Park over Shahenda Wafa | 215 |
| 9 | Tinnakrit Arunnuntapanich over Sehyun Kwon | 214 | Constance Mbatha over Michelle Chiamaka Nwankwo | 211 |
| 10 | Arvin Nicholas over Cyril Tomas Montel Jr | 210 | B Yenuthi Sahanlee Perera over Ema Walter | 205 |
Every Open Round 9 game · All Open upsets · Every Women’s Round 9 game · All Women’s upsets
Round 10: what comes next
Armenia face Uzbekistan and Uzbekistan 2 face India in the Open. In the Women’s section, China play India. These are official team pairings; individual board selections are separate and may change.
| Home Nations Open | Home Nations Women |
|---|---|
| England v Belarus | England v Georgia |
| Scotland v Sweden | Czech Republic v Scotland |
| Ireland v Yemen | Ireland v Iceland |
| Wales v Costa Rica | Honduras v Wales |
My take
I wanted a response from England Open after the Uzbekistan 2 defeat. A 3–1 win does that, and it lifts them 11 places. Saying that, 25th is still some distance from an 11th-place seed. They have two rounds to put a better finish on this campaign.
The Wales results stand out for me. Both teams lost in Round 8; both won 3½–½ today. Camp finishing with checkmate is the sort of detail that gets missed if you only read a team score. Scotland's draw against a higher-seeded Australia was valuable too, and Vijayakumar earned it with a genuine rating upset.
At the top, Uzbekistan have answered Germany's win with a victory over the top seeds. China have kept a two-point advantage in the Women's section. I would like to call both races settled. I don't think they are. There are still two rounds left, and Round 10 puts the leading teams straight back across the board from one another.
Sources
- Official Open Round 9 results and standings
- Official Women’s Round 9 results and standings
- Official Open Round 10 team pairings and Women’s pairings
- The eight linked Lichess Study chapters for the selected games