Uzbekistan Crowned as Samarkand Olympiad Closes in Fireworks

Two weeks of chess in Samarkand ended the way only a Central Asian host nation could close it: with medals, national anthems, opera, and finally fireworks and a drone show lighting up the sky over the city’s Eternal City amphitheater. FIDE’s own account of the closing ceremony described it as one of the best send-offs in the reporter’s experience of covering Olympiads, and the medal table backs up the theatrics.

The night started with category prizes for teams outside the top tier, split into five rating bands (A through E) in both sections. In the Open, the United States topped category A, with Vietnam, Ecuador, Pakistan and Qatar taking B through E. In the Women’s section, the US again led category A, followed by Croatia, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Maldives.

Best-uniform honors went to Hong Kong, Jamaica, South Africa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mali, and South Africa again, spread across classic, sports and original categories in both sections. It is a minor tradition, but one that gives smaller federations a moment on stage they’ll rarely get from the standings alone.

The individual board medals told their own story about who carried teams through the event. On the Open side, gold went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov on board one, Wei Yi on board two, Frederik Svane on board three, Ihor Samunenkov on board four, and Gleb Dudin on the reserve board.

Abdusattorov’s board-one gold, in particular, fits a tournament in which the host nation’s top player was central to the story from the opening rounds, a run The Chess Herald tracked through Uzbekistan’s early wild swings.

In the Women’s section, Zhu Jiner took board-one gold, with Alice Lee, Lu Miaoyi, Elnaz Kaliakhmet and Savitha Shri B winning boards two, three, four and the reserve board.

Then came the medals that actually decided the podium. In the Women’s section, China won gold and the Vera Menchik Cup, Kazakhstan took silver, and India claimed bronze, with the Chinese national anthem playing as their team stood with the trophy.

In the Open section, the moment the host crowd had been waiting for arrived: Uzbekistan were crowned Olympiad champions, taking gold and the Hamilton Russell Cup, ahead of India in silver and Germany in bronze.

It capped a tournament that had already produced its share of twists for the hosts, including the round-10 stumble covered in Uzbekistan’s lead holding despite a Ding Liren blunder and Germany’s earlier interruption of Uzbekistan’s perfect start.

India’s bronze and silver were not its only hardware. The Gaprindashvili Cup, awarded to the federation with the best combined result across both the Open and Women’s sections, also went to India, a fitting cap to a fortnight in which India’s depth kept showing up even when a top board faltered, as it did when Erigaisi lost but the bench held.

With the results settled, the ceremony turned to the future. The Olympiad flag was handed over to the organizers of the 47th edition, set for Abu Dhabi in 2028, with Hussein Abdullah Al-Khoury and Abdulraheem Al Zarooni receiving it from Uzbekistan Chess Federation First Vice President Alisher Sadullayev as images of the UAE capital filled the giant screens.

FIDE President Timur Turlov closed the event by thanking Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov before declaring the 46th Chess Olympiad officially over. Then the fireworks took over, a send-off for an event that had brought thousands of players, captains, officials and delegations to Samarkand over two weeks.