Germany Stuns Top-Seeded USA as Uzbekistan Routs Hungary

Round 5 in Samarkand, the last before the Olympiad’s rest day, delivered exactly the kind of chaos organizers probably didn’t want on a day that opened with team photo shoots and ceremonial first moves. Several of the tournament’s leading teams strengthened their grip on the top of the standings, while others were blindsided entirely.

The biggest shock on the Open section’s top boards came from Germany, who beat the top-seeded United States 2.5-1.5. The deciding game was Frederik Svane’s win over Hans Niemann, a contest with no single obvious blunder. Svane simply had the better-coordinated pieces for most of the game and gradually converted.

Wesley So very nearly rescued the match for the Americans. Facing So’s queen, Mathias Bluebaum sacrificed his own queen for a rook to reach a drawn fortress, one So couldn’t break down. German captain Jan Gustafsson stopped worrying about the result once Svane’s win had already sealed the match. The draw stood, and so did Germany’s upset.

Uzbekistan, meanwhile, delivered the day’s most emphatic result: a clean 4-0 sweep of Hungary. Richard Rapport blundered a pawn to Nodirbek Abdusattorov on board one, and the Uzbek top board never let go of the advantage. Behind him, Yakubboev out-prepared Gledura with the black pieces, and both Sindarov and Vokhidov ground out wins in rook endings to complete the whitewash.

India kept pace with a 3-1 win over the Netherlands. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh both won on the outer boards, with two draws in between sealing the match. Gukesh is now on 4.5/5, a strong medal push on board four, while Arjun Erigaisi appears to have shaken off his rough start to the event.

That trio of results, Germany, Uzbekistan and India, now sit together at the top of the Open standings on 10 match points out of 10. China and Armenia, also among the leaders, played out four straight draws and stayed quiet by comparison. Further down, England, France, Iran, Spain, Türkiye and Ukraine all climbed the table, while Tajikistan produced its own surprise, beating Slovenia 2.5-1.5 in a tight match.

The Women’s section had its own upset at the very top: Poland stunned defending champions India, a result that fits a pattern for a Polish squad that has already made noise atop the standings earlier in this Olympiad.

China had a smoother afternoon, beating Bulgaria 3-1 behind Zhu Jiner, now a perfect 3/3 on board one, and Song Xuxin, sitting at 4.5/5 on board two. A quick draw on board three was all China needed to close out the match.

Round 5 also carried some unusual scheduling wrinkles. Both Israeli teams, in the Open and Women’s sections, observed Yom Kippur and played their games earlier than the standard schedule, with their opponents, Singapore and Colombia respectively, agreeing to relocate the matches to the Savitsky Hotel under full tournament regulations.

Vidit and Awonder Liang, whose earlier stumble was covered in The Chess Herald’s look at a rough day for Montenegro and the American reserve, both remained on the bench for their respective teams once again.

Samarkand now heads into its rest day with three Open teams sharing the lead and a Women’s field freshly reshuffled after Poland’s win over India. The next round will show how much of Round 5’s chaos was a blip and how much of it sticks.

Open standings after Round 5 of 11

#	Team	W–D–L	Match Points	Board Points
1	Uzbekistan	5–0–0	10	17
2	India	5–0–0	10	14.5
3	Germany	5–0–0	10	15
4	China	4–1–0	9	15.5
5	France	4–1–0	9	15.5
6	Iran	4–1–0	9	16.5
7	Armenia	4–1–0	9	14.5
8	England	4–1–0	9	14.5
9	Romania	3–2–0	8	15.5
10	Spain	4–0–1	8	14.5

Women standings after Round 5 of 11

#	Team	W–D–L	Match Points	Board Points
1	Poland	5–0–0	10	16.5
2	China	5–0–0	10	17
3	Kazakhstan	5–0–0	10	16
4	Azerbaijan	5–0–0	10	16
5	USA	4–1–0	9	17
6	Uzbekistan	4–1–0	9	16
7	Bulgaria	4–0–1	8	15
8	India	4–0–1	8	15.5
9	Germany	4–0–1	8	14
10	Serbia	4–0–1	8	15