Checkmate! Uzbekistan beat Ukraine to clinch Olympiad gold

While China seals victory over Vietnam in 11th round

Men’s Football / 27 September 2026 Hallgrimsson faced selection issues for controversial Israel game 27 September 2026 ROI players voted to go ahead but will wear black armbands ‘in recognition of all lives lost’ in the Gaza conflict

HOSTS Uzbekistan confirmed their rise in the chess world yesterday, sealing victory in this year’s Olympiad open competition with a final-round 2.5-1.5 win over Ukraine in Samarkand.

The central Asian country previously won in 2022. The biennial team tournament was first held in London in 1927; in 1976 the Swiss format was adopted — teams are paired in each round against opponents with a similar win-loss score — and a women’s competition introduced alongside the open.

Current men’s world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who will face Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov in this year’s championship in November, lost to Hungary grandmaster Gleb Dudin in their match, but the Indian team scrambled to a draw to secure silver.

China comfortably took gold — their seventh — in the women’s tournament, beating Vietnam 3-1 in this 11th round, with individual wins for Zhu Jiner and Lu Miaoyi.

Kazakhstan took silver after a 2-2 draw with Poland, and India bronze with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Georgia. On a good day for central Asia, Mongolia’s women tied for third place but missed out on a medal due to tiebreaks.

On Saturday Timur Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and chair of the Turkic Chess Association, which brings together the chess federations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, was elected president of chess’s governing body Fide at its general assembly, held alongside the Olympiad in Samarkand.

In July his predecessor Arkady Dvorkovich, who served two terms as president, said he was stepping down after appearing on the European Union’s latest sanctions list. The former deputy prime minister of Russia and Kremlin adviser was hit with an EU travel ban and asset freeze, accused of supporting the invasion of Ukraine.

Turlov’s election was surrounded with controversy over his own links to Russia. The Moscow-born billionaire only became a Kazakh citizen in 2022 and he has close ties Dvorkovich.

Some commentators see this as a plus for continuity, with a hope of an eventual return for Russia, whose absence has left a yawning vacuum, others see a burgeoning sport mired in corruption.

Five-time world champion Vishy Anand of India will continue to serve as deputy president, having been drafted onto the Turlov ticket.

Round-up / 24 August 2026 Sport in brief: August 24, 2026 24 August 2026 Snippets of news from the sporting world with JAMIE J

Athletics / 17 August 2026 Hunt surpasses expectations after claiming fourth European Championship gold 17 August 2026 Women’s football / 3 March 2026 Hat-trick hero Myong leads North Korean revival at Women’s Asian Cup 3 March 2026 Books / 18 January 2026 Understanding Uzbekistan 18 January 2026 STEVE ANDREW is intrigued by a timely and well-researched book that demonstrates the conflicted history of the central Asian country