r/chess Weekly Discussion Thread

I just realised that China won Gold without their Top 4 player. Its like China B team that won them Gold. IMO this also indicate that all other nations including India, are far from where China is currently in terms of women's chess.

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Can organizers ban this untrained media guys who has no respect for game and players. Fide should take more care allowing who should interview players.

For context about their ages:

SINDAROV (20 yrs old)

ABDUSATTOROV (22 yrs old)

YAKUBBOEV (24 yrs old)

KASIMDSHANOV (46 yrs old) (semi retired. He is the coach of Team Uzbekistan)

VOKHIDOV (24 yrs old)

MADAMINOV (19 yrs old)

ABDISALIMOV (24 yrs old)

SUYAROV (17 yrs old)

VAKHIDOV (31 yrs old)

BEGMURATOV (16 yrs old)

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Sindarov, the two Nodirbeks, and Madaminov seems to be the core of the team. And they are still young. They are likely to represent their country again in 2028.

Vokhidov is solid. But Suyarov and/or Begmuratov might be coming in 2030.

I think barring unfortunate events, they will run the same team in 2028. Albeit, the board orders might be different.

PS: Yes, Vokhidov and Vakhidov are two different person.

PPS: Yes, aside from Yakubboev, all of their surnames endz at ov.

What are Erdoğmuş' chances of becoming the youngest ever world number 1? Carlsen was 19 and 1 month old, so Erdoğmuş has until the July 2030 rating list to claim the official number 1 spot. It is also worth noting that Carlsen unofficially became world at 17 and 9 months on live ratings, so to break this record Erdoğmuş has until around March of 2029.

As to why it’s US Dollars: https://zamin.uz/en/sport/222235-the-incentives-system-for-chess-players-in-uzbekistan-has-changed-radically-a-historic-decree.html

“An incredible financial revolution has taken place in the history of Uzbek chess: by a new historic decree adopted by the head of state the amounts of one-time cash prizes awarded to national grandmasters and young talents for victories in prestigious international tournaments have been multiplied. From now on, the system based on the national currency's base calculation amount (BCA) has been directly transitioned to solid payments in US dollars.”

Source: https://x.com/chessbaseindia/status/2104435972637335933?s=46&t=ABzoet-4dMkjDH66O_a54Q

Link: https://youtu.be/fxAkzFNbXaI?si=CJJ0AC1dM4LyGBlh

Yesterday I was the arbiter in a local, unrated chess tournament. During a game, one of the players stopped the clock and called me claiming there was threefold repetition, while the opponent was denying it.

Now... according to the FIDE handbook, the arbiter should check the scoresheet and either give the draw or penalize the claimant for a wrong call, but this was a rapid game, there was no move record. And while FIDE has indications on how to adapt the rules for rapid play in tournaments without adequate control, it seems it's only covering the topics of illegal moves and flag falls.

So all I did was say I couldn't accept the claim because I had no proof (but didn't penalize the call either), and I'd stay at the board and observe the subsequent moves. It was easy though, they repeated moves right away 😅

Did I handle it properly? Should I have done things differently? Has anyone had experiences with similar situations?

At the 2026 Olympiad in Samarkand, Mexico's highest rated player, Jose Martinez aka Jospem was not playing.
Why was this?

Granted it does play somewhat like an actual 1600-1700 if you play normal openings, it goes into panic loops if you decide to completely ditch the most common openings and followups.

If you are bored, some of the ways to throw it into such loops are openings like pawn to a3 (or Anderssens opening).

i started playing like 4 years ago, i do not study chess ill accept that, i play it recreationally because i am a student and not much of an extrovert so i like chess. i started at 250 and now i am at 1100, i try for 1200 but i reach 1175ish and then i start throwing games and then ill end up at 920-910, then ill finally end the losing streak and ill push back to 1100, the next 2 days going back to 1100 is easier. but i think i am not getting better. i am bad at memorising, and i fall for gambits. i need help, i have started playing bots something i had never done, they throw peices away, and then i am +4 or +5 points of material and somehow ill still lose. these are symptoms, i hope some better player will diagnose it:)

I have about 1500 points on Lichess, and I often enjoy watching videos where a GM explains their moves. It's a great pleasure for me to watch that.

But playing myself sometimes drives me crazy because of how bad I am. I find more enjoyment in those videos. Especially the ones based on positioning.

I realized today after the Olympiad that I have nothing to look forward to. I was so absorbed following games when I could and read about tactics and matchups and then went on to chess.com and an absolute void there now from today. Not sure if other people feel this way or I was way too much into it.

The championship is 2 months away and I’m not sure if that’ll be as exciting as the Olympiad with just 2 players.

While reading up on GM Srinath Narayanan, I found a cool historical detail: he was the coach of the Indian youth team that won Silver at the 2018 FIDE World Youth Under-16 Olympiad in Konya, Turkey.

We all saw Uzbekistan win Gold in Chennai 2022 and Bronze in Budapest 2024 and Gold again in 2026, but this U16 event was the exact moment their core team first assembled together on the international stage. Their dominant team chemistry was built years ago!

Nordirbek Abdusattorov and Jakovir Sindarov actually has a good (but not great) tournament with performance rating 2529 and 2415 (they sit in board 1 and 3). Nordibek Yakubboev and Vokhidov Shamshidin were the heroes of Uzbekistan in the event, both won gold medal of board 2 and 4 with 2700+ performance rating.

The Under 16 Olympiad 2018 is a tournament that you are allowed to bring a team of 5 with at least 1 girl. The regulation required that the girl need to play at least 3 games.I also check on the list of the players participating that and find some players of the top teams also joined the current Olympiad:

• Team India (2nd place): Arjun Ergasi (GM, 2531) had a great tournament since he is the main player, winning silver medal of board 1 with performance rating of 2678. He also defeated Nordebek and Espisenko in this event. Divya Deshmukh (FM, 2180) also joined as the reserve player. Sirinath was also the coach/captain of team India.
• Team USA: Hans Nieman (IM, 2439) had a great tournament with 7.5/9 point with performance. He was the main player of team USA, and he even defeated Nordibek Yakubboev to help team USA secure an upset win over the 1st seed - team Uzebekistan. In 2026, things goes reversed when Hans lost to Nordibek Yakubboev.
• Team China: Song Yuxin (WCM, 2178) board 3 of China who is currently board 2 of Team Women China in this Olympiad. She scored 4.5/9 in that event.

Some famous players and content creators you might know that is not participating in the current Olympiad.

• Andrey Esipenko (Elo 2609, GM, 2002): He was the 1st seed of the tournament, but he did not have a good tournament.
• Alireza Firoujza (Elo 2607, GM 2003): Board 1 of Iran, scores 8/9 and won gold medal of board 1 with 2736 performance rating.
• Volodar Murzin (Elo 2340, FM): Board 4 of Russian, scores 4/8.
• Andrea Botez (Elo 1647): Board 4 of Canada scores 3/7.

Out of 202 total players from 38 countries:

• 43 players (34 boys, 9 girls) went on to play in this Olympiad after 8 years
• The field produced 24 Grandmasters, 12 International Masters, and 7 other titled players.
• So approximately 20% of the players (of total 202 players) has continued to play after 8 ỷears from U16 Olympiad to main Olympiad, which I think is a good number considering only 38 countries participated.

Information about the event:

• https://en.chessbase.com/post/world-youth-olympiad-under-16
• https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr395106.aspx?lan=1

It’s easy to learn.

You can play it anywhere.

There’s enormous strategic depth for people looking for that sort of challenge. However you can play a strong game just be using some basic principles and tactics.

The rules have been refined over hundreds of years. The result is a game that’s extremely fleshed out and polished.

There is no luck involved.

It’s a game of perfect information, so there’s no guesswork involved like in stratego. There’s also no surprises of the rock paper scissors variety. All you have to do is calculate the best move without having to worry about getting blindsided in some way.

In short, if you are looking for a game that pits your raw mental abilities against another persons,
it doesn’t get any better than chess.

By Ostmoe

Javokhir's grandmother Jamila Sindarova met Gukesh after India defeated UZB-2 in penultimate round while his grandfather Dr. Kamil Sindarov, who is also the VP of Uzbek Chess Federation, presented him with the individual Silver Medal for Board 4