Uzbekistan Retakes the Lead as So Stuns Sindarov

A day earlier, Germany had ended Uzbekistan’s perfect 7/7 start and looked ready to make a real run at gold. Round nine flipped the script entirely. Uzbekistan beat top seed United States 2.5-1.5, while Germany fell to India, and the hosts are once more alone at the top with just two rounds to go.

The board-by-board detail is what makes this one worth remembering. On board two, Wesley So handed Javokhir Sindarov his first defeat of the entire Olympiad, grinding him down in what FIDE described as a fine technical game. Sindarov, the World Championship Challenger, had been unbeaten through eight rounds before that.

Board one went the other way for the Americans. Fabiano Caruana had a draw in hand but chose not to trade off a pair of rooks, letting the game slide into a double-rook endgame against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Abdusattorov converted it, stayed undefeated at 7/9, and is squarely in the running for the individual board-one gold.

Board three settled the match. Nodirbek Yakubboev faced Hans Niemann in a difficult position where Niemann sacrificed a piece for three pawns, but the compensation wasn’t enough and Yakubboev held on.

It’s the same player who has already delivered a decisive knight fork to send Uzbekistan into sole lead earlier in the event, and once again it was the “two Nodirbeks,” Abdusattorov and Yakubboev, doing the heavy lifting.

Board four between Levon Aronian and Mukhiddin Madaminov was a level draw throughout.

India stayed alive for gold with a win over Germany that actually came down to one board. Three games were drawn on solid, accurate play, but Gukesh D found himself under real pressure against Alexander Donchenko on board four.

With the clock running down, Donchenko lost the thread of the tactics and Gukesh turned the game around to win. It keeps his individual campaign unbeaten at 7.5/9 and kept India’s team hopes breathing for one more day.

The other jolt of the round came from an unexpected source: Uzbekistan’s second team, seeded 30th, crushed sixth-seeded Netherlands 3.5-0.5. That result badly damages the Dutch team’s medal chances with only two rounds left, and it adds to a growing story of Uzbekistan’s lower boards overperforming their seeding across the whole event.

France and China shared all four points in their match, with Wei Yi reportedly fortunate to escape a difficult position with a draw, a result that keeps both sides’ medal hopes alive without changing the standings picture much.

Elsewhere, Armenia beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5, Hungary beat Austria 3-1 to climb back into contention after a shaky middle stretch, and Spain (3-1 over Czech Republic) and Ukraine (2.5-1.5 over Georgia) both kept outside top-five hopes alive.

In the women’s section, China pulled two full match points clear of India, Kazakhstan and Mongolia after beating Armenia 3-1, with Lu Miaoyi providing the key win after draws on boards two and four and Zhu Jiner also contributing. India, meanwhile, moved into the medal zone by beating hosts Uzbekistan 3-1, with Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal both staying undefeated in the match.

With two rounds remaining in Samarkand, Uzbekistan’s men now control their own destiny at the top, but the last two days have shown how fast that can change. China’s women’s team looks the safer bet for gold with its two-point cushion, while the open section is set up for a finish nobody can confidently call.

Open standings after Round 9 of 11

#	Team	W–D–L	Match Points	Board Points
1	Uzbekistan	8–0–1	16	26.5
2	India	7–1–1	15	23
3	Uzbekistan 2	7–1–1	15	24
4	Armenia	6–3–0	15	23.5
5	China	6–2–1	14	24
6	Germany	7–0–2	14	23
7	France	5–4–0	14	24
8	Spain	7–0–2	14	24.5
9	Ukraine	7–0–2	14	23.5
10	Hungary	6–2–1	14	19.5

Women standings after Round 9 of 11

#	Team	W–D–L	Match Points	Board Points
1	China	8–1–0	17	28
2	India	7–1–1	15	27
3	Kazakhstan	6–3–0	15	24.5
4	Mongolia	7–1–1	15	23.5
5	France	7–0–2	14	26.5
6	Armenia	7–0–2	14	23.5
7	Poland	7–0–2	14	23.5
8	Vietnam	7–0–2	14	25
9	Indonesia	7–0–2	14	24.5
10	Greece	6–2–1	14	23