As the 2026 Samarkand Chess Olympiad continues in full swing, the vast majority of the favorite teams in both the Open and Women's sections are maintaining a flawless run after the first three rounds. Among the top 10 seeds, all favorites except England in the Open section and Georgia, Ukraine, and France in the Women's section remain steady at the top with 6/6 match points. While chess giants like the USA, India, Uzbekistan, and China share first place, Türkiye has also secured its spot among the teams with a perfect score by winning its first three matches.
The Struggle of the Favorites and the Standings in the Open Section
Among the top 15 seeds by average rating, the only team to drop a match point in the first three rounds was England, which drew against Lithuania in round three. Aside from them, the other top teams are continuing without any match point losses. Sorted by the second, third, and fourth tiebreaks (TB2, TB3, and TB4), the teams on 6/6 match points are: Romania, France, Poland, Uzbekistan, China, Spain, Germany, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Czechia, Israel, Ukraine, the United States of America, Argentina, Greece, Türkiye, Singapore, Serbia, India, the Netherlands, and Hungary.
As indicated by the order of this tiebreak list, some of the highest-seeded teams, such as the USA and India, have been barely scraping by toward match victories, whereas squads like Romania and France have delivered much more dominant performances. Of course, with the tournament still barely a quarter of the way through, it is worth noting that the leaderboard remains highly dynamic.
Top-Seeded USA Faces Early Struggles
The tournament got off to a rather rough start for the top-seeded USA team. The Americans dropped half a board point right at the beginning after Grandmaster (GM) Levon Aronian was held to a draw by Candidate Master (CM) Ali Ehsan Aryan of Iraq. Furthermore, this shaky form did not stop there; the team barely scraped by against both Mongolia and Denmark, winning each match by a narrow 2.5-1.5 margin.
The events in the match against Mongolia were particularly notable for the USA. In that encounter, GM Hans Moke Niemann drew against International Master (IM) Amilal Munkhdalai, while GM Awonder Liang suffered a loss after playing the enterprising yet risky Benoni Defense against Mongolia's IM Khuyagtsogt Itgelt. Meanwhile, the Lichess team continues to cover the Olympiad by sharing player interviews and highlights with chess fans across YouTube and their social media channels.
Editorial assessment
The picture emerging from the first three rounds of the 2026 Samarkand Chess Olympiad demonstrates how much the gap has narrowed between paper favorites and lower-rated teams in modern chess. In particular, the top-seeded USA dropping half a point against Iraq and subsequently winning their matches against Mongolia and Denmark by the slimmest possible margin of 2.5-1.5 proves that no match is guaranteed in the Olympiad format. GM Awonder Liang's choice to play the risky Benoni Defense against IM Khuyagtsogt Itgelt—resulting in a loss—serves as a prime example of how opening risks taken by favored players pushing for a full point can lead to dangerous consequences for the overall team score.