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Chess Olympiad 2026

Round 2

405 of 408 games finished, 80% of them decisive. 29 teams won 4–0. Croatia had the best team performance, 2760.

CompleteUpdated 28 Sept 2026, 16:36 CEST, 3 forfeits

Round 2 in numbers

405

games finished of 408

80%

decisive; White scored 56%

46

moves per game

126

moves in the longest game

Results

188

White wins, 46%

80

draws, 20%

137

Black wins, 34%

20 checkmates on the board, 22 draws by repetition, 1 stalemates, 5 draws before move 30 and 3 forfeits.

Accuracy and time

89.8%

average accuracy, as Lichess scores it

2.1

blunders per game

749

mistakes, as Lichess marks them

850

blunders, as Lichess marks them

2:20

average time per move

12%

of moves played with under 5 minutes left

Lichess analysed 405 of 405 finished games, with 1,988 inaccuracies, 749 mistakes and 850 blunders. Times come from the relay clocks of 360 games. The extra 30 minutes after move 40 showed up on move 41 or 42 for 60% of 321 players, and never for 73 players who went past move 45.

Game awards

Player awards

Ratings, titles and ages

Clock awards

From the relay clocks of 360 of 405 finished games; games with missing, hand-entered or corrected clocks are left out, and time left after move 40 counts only once the clock shows the extra 30 minutes.

Engine awards

Not awarded this round: Lucky Escape.

From Lichess’s computer analysis of 405 of 405 finished games. Inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders are the ones Lichess marks on the move.

Chess culture

Never Play f6

50% scored by all who tried

13 more, tied

Ben Finegold says never push the f-pawn one square. These players did it by move 10 (f3 or …f6) and won anyway.

Not awarded this round: Short’s King Walk.

Homages to chess memes, famous games and Samarkand lore, meant kindly. Brilliant!!, Botez Gambit and The Carlsen Grind use Lichess’s analysis of 405 of 405 finished games; the rest look at every finished game.

Collections

En Passant

31en passants

28 more

Every en passant capture of the round.

Family Fork

6forks

3 more

A knight gave check and attacked the queen at the same time, from a square where it could not simply be taken. The ones that won the queen come first.

Holy Hell

22left alone

19 more

En passant was on the board and the player left it alone. En passant is forced, allegedly.

Poisoned Pawn

13pawn grabs

10 more

The queen grabbed the b-pawn (Qxb7 or …Qxb2) by move 15. Fischer’s favourite snack; the result tells whether it was poisoned.

Connect Four

13rows of pawns

10 more

Four or more pawns side by side on one rank beyond their starting rank. The first row of each player is listed, the longest first.

Irish Pawn Centre

10Irish centres

7 more

Three pawns on one file, one behind the other. The first time for each player is listed.

Not awarded this round: Il Vaticano, Pawn Cube, The Hard One, Photo Finish.

The awards that list every case instead of crowning one, read from the position on every move; the overview counts them across the rounds. The Hard One, Il Vaticano, the pawn shapes and Royal Court may well stay empty for a round or two.

Match awards

Whitewash

29matches

26 more

Won the match 4–0, forfeits included.

Comeback Match

6matches

3 more

Lost on board 1 and still won the match.

Team of the Round

2760performance

Highest performance over the four boards: average opponent rating plus 400 × (wins − losses) ÷ 4, all four played against rated opponents.

Slingshot

302points lower on average

Won a match against the team that looked strongest on paper: the largest gap in average rating, all four boards played and rated.

Not awarded this round: Treaty of Samarkand.

Rates over each team’s finished games of the round, four needed. The event-wide team awards, the category leaders and the board race are on the standings page.

Teams: style

Space Invaders

45.58per 100 moves

Most moves into the opponent's half per 100 of the team's own moves.

Check, Please

8checks per game

Most checks given per game over the team's finished games.

The Late Knight Show

7per game

Most knight moves from move 31 on, per game, over the team's finished games.

Promotion Party

2promotions

1 more, tied

Most promotions by the team's players.

Chicken Nation

22.77retreats per 100 moves

Most retreating moves per 100 of the team's own moves; castling never counts.

Forward March

8.15retreats per 100 moves

Fewest retreating moves per 100 of the team's own moves.

Pawn Pushers

37.5pawn moves per 100 moves

Most pawn moves per 100 of the team's own moves.

Favourite Piece

For each piece, the team whose own moves have the highest share of it.

Wandering Kings

14.25king moves per game

Most king moves per game over the team's finished games.

Safety First

5.67average castling move

Earliest castling on average, over the games in which the team castled at all.

Déjà Vu

5identical moves

Two of the team's games with the same colour that followed the same moves for longest; both are listed.

Teams: clocks

Deep Thinkers

3:13per move

Most seconds per move over the team's games with usable clocks.

Quick Draw

1:23per move

Fewest seconds per move over the team's games with usable clocks.

Zeitnot Nation

33.8% under five minutes

Highest share of moves played with under five minutes on the clock.

Time in the Bank

43:46left on average

Most time left on the clock after the last move, on average.

Over the relay clocks of 360 of 405 finished games; a team needs four such games.

Teams: engine

Precision Nation

98.1% accuracy

Highest average Lichess accuracy over the team's analysed games.

Over Lichess’s analysis of 405 of 405 finished games; a team needs four analysed games.

Notable games

Game phases

12

moves of opening

19

moves of middlegame

20

moves of endgame

Averages per game, with the phases split as Lichess splits them. 82% of the games reached an endgame; the first capture came on move 7.3 on average.

Endgames by type

EndgameReachedAt the end
Rook6545
King and pawn2622
Bishop2117
Queen and rook207
Queen1714
Knight1410

A rook endgame has nothing but kings, pawns and rooks left; the others likewise, as the Lichess puzzle tagger defines them. A game can pass through several types, so the first column adds up to more than the games.

Reached, and still there at the end

Each band runs from the games that reached the endgame to those that still had it on the last move; the rest went on into another type. One scale for both columns.

ReachedAt the endRook 6545King and pawn 2622Bishop 2117Queen and rook 207Queen 1714Knight 1410

Tactics

7,465

captures, 18.4 per game

2,026

checks

637

castled kingside

84

castled queenside

16

games without castling

31

promotions, 1 under

31

en passant captures

Openings

First moves

  1. 1.e4
    50%
  2. 1.d4
    32%
  3. 1.Nf3
    9%
  4. 1.c4
    7%
  5. 1.b3
    1%

Share of all finished games. Opening names and ECO codes come from Lichess, based on the position reached.

Every opening of the round

The round’s openings as a tree: the five volumes of the opening encyclopaedia (A flank openings, B semi-open games, C open games and the French, D closed games and the Grünfeld, E Indian defences), their families, and every variation played. A line grows with the games through it; the red thread leads to the round’s rarest openings.

APolish Opening 1Van Geet Opening 1Nimzo-Larsen Attack 3Bird Opening 2Zukertort Opening 11King's Indian Attack 4King's Indian Attack, with e6 1English Opening 33Horwitz Defense 2Queen's Pawn Game 2Indian Defense 9East Indian Defense 3London System 1Old Indian Defense 3Benoni Defense 3Dutch Defense 3BOwen Defense 2Rat Defense 1Scandinavian Defense 7Alekhine Defense 1Modern Defense 5Lion Defense 1Pirc Defense 5Caro-Kann Defense 22Sicilian Defense 85Pterodactyl Defense 1CFrench Defense 17Rat Defense 1Center Game 1Vienna Game 4Philidor Defense 2Petrov's Defense 1Scotch Game 4Four Knights Game 5Italian Game 20Ruy Lopez 21DQueen's Pawn Game 18Rapport-Jobava System 6Rubinstein Opening 2Queen's Gambit Declined 24Slav Defense 10Queen's Gambit Accepted 1Tarrasch Defense 1Semi-Slav Defense 3Grünfeld Defense 2ECatalan Opening 9Indian Defense 1Bogo-Indian Defense 4Queen's Indian Defense 9Nimzo-Indian Defense 6King's Indian Defense 21

Point at a line or a name to name the opening; click to open it on Lichess.Tap a name to name the opening; tap it again to open it on Lichess.

Which openings won

A bar per family: White’s wins, the draws, Black’s wins. The tick is the family’s score for White, the grey line the round’s; a tick right of it, and White did better than usual. Framed in red, the best for White and the best for Black of the families with at least 5 games.

Round: White 56%gamesSicilian DefenseEnglish OpeningQueen's Gambit Decl…Caro-Kann DefenseKing's Indian DefenseRuy LopezItalian GameQueen's Pawn GameFrench DefenseZukertort OpeningIndian DefenseSlav DefenseCatalan OpeningQueen's Indian Defe…Scandinavian DefenseNimzo-Indian DefenseRapport-Jobava Syst…Four Knights GameModern DefensePirc DefenseBogo-Indian DefenseKing's Indian AttackScotch GameVienna GameBenoni Defense8533242221212020171110109976655544443
The numbers
FamilyGamesWhite winsDrawsBlack winsWhite’s score
Sicilian Defense8542152858%
English Opening3310101346%
Queen's Gambit Declined24125760%
Caro-Kann Defense22106659%
King's Indian Defense21731141%
Ruy Lopez2186752%
Italian Game20133473%
Queen's Pawn Game2085753%
French Defense17102565%
Zukertort Opening1162364%
Indian Defense1022630%
Slav Defense1062270%
Catalan Opening953172%
Queen's Indian Defense933350%
Scandinavian Defense751179%
Nimzo-Indian Defense630350%
Rapport-Jobava System630350%
Four Knights Game513150%
Modern Defense540180%
Pirc Defense520340%
Bogo-Indian Defense411238%
King's Indian Attack412150%
Scotch Game430175%
Vienna Game40040%
Benoni Defense311150%

Best for White

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
B31 Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack, Fianchetto Variation580%
B30 Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack764%
D01 Rapport-Jobava System650%
B51 Sicilian Defense: Moscow Variation550%

Best for Black

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
A45 Indian Defense: Accelerated London System520%
B50 Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations520%
A14 English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined540%
D01 Rapport-Jobava System650%

Openings with at least 5 games.

Rarest openings of the round

Pieces

9,656

pawn moves, 26%

6,314

knight moves, 17%

5,657

bishop moves, 15%

6,776

rook moves, 18%

4,624

queen moves, 12%

4,596

king moves, 12%

Captured and surviving

PieceCapturedStill on the board at the end
pawns3,47646%
knights1,32818%
bishops1,23024%
rooks91644%
queens51540%

Checkmates

20on the board

12 by White, 8 by Black

Mating pieceGames
Queen10
  1. move 26Mohamed El Moctar sidaty MTN mated Ngoupet, Exel CAF
  2. move 38Mlik Omar SEN mated Chottu, Melanie SOL
  3. move 42Nguyen, Quoc Hy VIE mated Linster, Philippe LUX
  4. move 47Alsayer, Bader KUW mated Jeetlall, David SKN
  5. move 47Jamal, Hamid Harmon Gulamo MOZ mated Brookfield, Toby GCI
  6. move 51Pitamber, Sachin Dhilan GUY mated Douyere, Nicolas NCL
  7. move 52Drayton, Anthony GUY mated Bellier Pontais, Titouan NCL
  8. move 59Mushore, Emarald Takudzwa ZIM mated Pride, Avian BAH
  9. move 61Sandiford, Keron GUY mated Brotons, Christian NCL
  10. move 69Wallace O. Williams LBR mated Brown, Akeem JAM
Rook8
  1. move 31Hjartarson, Johann ISL mated Ordonez Bonilla, Ricardo Andres GUA
  2. move 38Pesqueira, Jose ARU mated Tonutonu Donald TGA
  3. move 40Mohamed Raakin Fayaz MDV mated DOUANGPHACHANH, KONGKHAM LAO
  4. move 51Vanegas Lopez, Natanael Emanuel NCA mated Flanagan, Dylan BER
  5. move 51Diop Mamadou Lamine Dame SEN mated Lui, Junior SOL
  6. move 52De Mey, Juan Pablo ARU mated Satini, Tau TGA
  7. move 58Elier, Ali LBA mated Gatjens Capche, Angel Estanislao GEQ
  8. move 73Chipanga, Chiletso MAW mated Thomas, Winston Gerald Mansfield SLE
Bishop1
  1. move 18Fancy, Stuart PNG mated Pedro, Aron PLW
Knight1
  1. move 25Pg, Md Omar Ak Hafizon BRU mated Sougoule, Bansoumane
Pawn0

The mating piece is read from the final position. A piece opens onto its mates.

Fastest mates

  1. Move 18, mate with the bishopFM Stuart Fancy PNG 19231againstAron Pedro PLW 15980
  2. Move 25, mate with the knightCM Md Omar Ak Hafizon Pg BRU 21001againstBansoumane Sougoule Guinea 16580
  3. Move 26, mate with the queenExel Ngoupet CAF0againstMohamed El Moctar sidaty MTN 20311
  4. Move 31, mate with the rookFM Ricardo Andres Ordonez Bonilla GUA 21390againstGM Johann Hjartarson ISL 24611
  5. Move 38, mate with the rookTonutonu Donald TGA 14660againstCM Jose Pesqueira ARU 18251

The mates on a move axis

A dot per checkmate on the move it fell, filled for a mate by White, hollow for one by Black, the fastest in red. Each piece in the list opens onto its games.

020406080QueenRookBishopKnightPawn

Board heatmap

Darker means more moves, on a square-root scale.

Busiest squares

  1. d41,357
  2. d51,222
  3. e41,207
  4. e51,177
  5. f61,170

Quietest square with any traffic: a1, 141.

Where the pieces went in the finished games of the round.