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Chess Olympiad 2026

Round 4

411 of 412 games finished, 70% of them decisive. 16 teams won 4–0. United States of America had the best team performance, 2889.

CompleteUpdated 28 Sept 2026, 17:03 CEST, 1 forfeit

Round 4 in numbers

411

games finished of 412

70%

decisive; White scored 51%

48

moves per game

120

moves in the longest game

Results

148

White wins, 36%

120

draws, 29%

143

Black wins, 35%

18 checkmates on the board, 18 draws by repetition, 2 stalemates, 9 draws before move 30 and 1 forfeits.

Left out of the statistics: Nicholas Goldberg – Ahmed cherif Khaled Abdellahi — the broadcast did not record the moves that were played. The result 0–1 stands (verify, 19 Sep: board 357 Goldberg – Abdellahi scored 0-1 (chess-results agrees) but the last recorded eval, after move 34…, has White +3.68; the relay stopped early or mis-registered a move).

Left out of the statistics: CM Tito Cabunagan – Nathan Christian Zoumagui Magba — the broadcast did not record the moves that were played. The result 0–1 stands (verify, 19 Sep: board 398 Cabunagan – Zoumagui Magba scored 0-1 (chess-results agrees) but the last recorded eval, after move 27…, has White +4.08; the relay stopped early or mis-registered a move).

Left out of the statistics: Joseph Dalliah – Marc Delrieu — the broadcast did not record the moves that were played. The result 0–1 stands (verify, 19 Sep: board 46 Dalliah – Delrieu scored 0-1 (chess-results agrees) but the recorded game ends with White giving check at mate in 1; the relay stopped early or mis-registered a move).

Left out of the statistics: Tevita Sootanga – Abon Arelong — Arelong, unrated, was mated in four moves in rounds 5 and 6, and his games would fill the short-game records and awards on their own. The result 1–0 stands.

Played, per the official results: CM Sushrut Dahal – Paulo Fernandes de Carvalho ended 1–0; the broadcast marks it unplayed and has no moves (chess-results, round 4, board 75.3).

Accuracy and time

89.5%

average accuracy, as Lichess scores it

2.25

blunders per game

793

mistakes, as Lichess marks them

910

blunders, as Lichess marks them

2:16

average time per move

10%

of moves played with under 5 minutes left

Lichess analysed 404 of 406 finished games, with 1,924 inaccuracies, 793 mistakes and 910 blunders. Times come from the relay clocks of 387 games. The extra 30 minutes after move 40 showed up on move 41 or 42 for 57% of 333 players, and never for 83 players who went past move 45.

Game awards

Player awards

Ratings, titles and ages

Clock awards

From the relay clocks of 387 of 406 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

From Lichess’s computer analysis of 404 of 406 finished games. 2 more join when the round is updated the next evening. Inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders are the ones Lichess marks on the move.

Chess culture

Never Play f6

52% scored by all who tried

7 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.

Brilliant!!

4points of material given

2 more, tied

A real sacrifice: the piece was taken at once and the player stayed at least two points down, yet Lichess found nothing wrong with the move. The biggest gift wins.

Not awarded this round: Tal’s Dark Forest.

Homages to chess memes, famous games and Samarkand lore, meant kindly. Brilliant!!, Botez Gambit and The Carlsen Grind use Lichess’s analysis of 404 of 406 finished games; the rest look at every finished game.

Collections

En Passant

27en passants

24 more

Every en passant capture of the round.

Family Fork

8forks

5 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

25left alone

22 more

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

Poisoned Pawn

7pawn grabs

4 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

7Irish centres

4 more

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

Royal Court

8third queens

5 more

A third queen on the board.

Not awarded this round: Underpromotion, Shahrukh, Il Vaticano, Pawn Diamond, The Hard One.

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

16matches

13 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

2889performance

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

Slingshot

156points 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.

Treaty of Samarkand

4matches

1 more

A 2–2 match of four draws, peace signed on every board.

Marathon Match

293moves

The match whose four boards ran longest, in moves added together.

Thrill Ride

7eval swings

The match with the most swings between a one-pawn lead for White and one for Black over its four boards; every board needs Lichess's full analysis.

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

44.2per 100 moves

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

Check, Please

12.75checks per game

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

The Late Knight Show

10.25per game

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

Promotion Party

2promotions

2 more, tied

Most promotions by the team's players.

Chicken Nation

25.68retreats per 100 moves

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

Forward March

7.52retreats per 100 moves

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

Pawn Pushers

35.03pawn 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

19.5king moves per game

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

Safety First

5average castling move

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

Finishers

1checkmate

15 more, tied

Most checkmates delivered on the board.

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

3:16per move

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

Quick Draw

1:25per move

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

Zeitnot Nation

48.4% under five minutes

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

Time in the Bank

56:59left on average

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

Over the relay clocks of 387 of 406 finished games; a team needs four such games.

Teams: engine

Precision Nation

97.9% accuracy

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

Escape Artists

3games saved

Most games won or drawn from a position the engine had at −3.00 or worse.

Over Lichess’s analysis of 404 of 406 finished games; a team needs four analysed games.

Notable games

Game phases

11

moves of opening

19

moves of middlegame

21

moves of endgame

Averages per game, with the phases split as Lichess splits them. 84% of the games reached an endgame; the first capture came on move 7.1 on average.

Endgames by type

EndgameReachedAt the end
Rook7653
Bishop3226
King and pawn2723
Queen and rook2711
Knight2118
Queen1613

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 7653Bishop 3226King and pawn 2723Queen and rook 2711Knight 2118Queen 1613

Tactics

Openings

First moves

  1. 1.e4
    47%
  2. 1.d4
    32%
  3. 1.Nf3
    11%
  4. 1.c4
    8%
  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.

AHungarian Opening 1Mieses Opening 1Van Geet Opening 1Nimzo-Larsen Attack 5Bird Opening 2Zukertort Opening 10King's Indian Attack 9English Opening 35Réti Opening 2English Defense 2Horwitz Defense 1Queen's Pawn Game 1Benoni Defense 4Indian Defense 5Trompowsky Attack 1Torre Attack 3Yusupov-Rubinstein System 1East Indian Defense 2London System 1Old Indian Defense 1Benko Gambit Accepted 1Benko Gambit Declined 1Dutch Defense 2BPirc Defense 3Scandinavian Defense 3Modern Defense 3Czech Defense 1Caro-Kann Defense 28Sicilian Defense 92CFrench Defense 18Center Game 1Bishop's Opening 1Elephant Gambit 1Philidor Defense 6Petrov's Defense 4Scotch Game 4Four Knights Game 1Italian Game 16Ruy Lopez 10DQueen's Pawn Game 18Rapport-Jobava System 2Queen's Gambit Declined 33Slav Defense 5Queen's Gambit Accepted 1Semi-Slav Defense 3Neo-Grünfeld Defense 3Grünfeld Defense 3ECatalan Opening 13Blumenfeld Countergambit 1Indian Defense 4Bogo-Indian Defense 2Queen's Indian Defense 7Nimzo-Indian Defense 11King's Indian Defense 16

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 51%gamesSicilian DefenseEnglish OpeningQueen's Gambit Decl…Caro-Kann DefenseQueen's Pawn GameFrench DefenseItalian GameKing's Indian DefenseCatalan OpeningNimzo-Indian DefenseRuy LopezZukertort OpeningIndian DefenseKing's Indian AttackQueen's Indian Defe…Philidor DefenseNimzo-Larsen AttackSlav DefenseBenoni DefensePetrov's DefenseScotch GameGrünfeld DefenseModern DefenseNeo-Grünfeld DefensePirc Defense9235332819181616131110109976554443333
The numbers
FamilyGamesWhite winsDrawsBlack winsWhite’s score
Sicilian Defense9232273350%
English Opening351512860%
Queen's Gambit Declined331214758%
Caro-Kann Defense281110757%
Queen's Pawn Game19113566%
French Defense1865747%
Italian Game1673653%
King's Indian Defense1655647%
Catalan Opening1382369%
Nimzo-Indian Defense1125441%
Ruy Lopez1027155%
Zukertort Opening1032540%
Indian Defense924344%
King's Indian Attack941450%
Queen's Indian Defense713336%
Philidor Defense632167%
Nimzo-Larsen Attack511330%
Slav Defense511330%
Benoni Defense410325%
Petrov's Defense431088%
Scotch Game420250%
Grünfeld Defense301217%
Modern Defense311150%
Neo-Grünfeld Defense302133%
Pirc Defense310233%

Best for White

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
D00 Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London System580%
E08 Catalan Opening: Closed570%
B90 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation570%
C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo650%

Best for Black

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
B30 Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian520%
A05 Zukertort Opening520%
B23 Sicilian Defense: Closed530%
D30 Queen's Gambit Declined633%

Openings with at least 5 games.

Rarest openings of the round

Pieces

9,700

pawn moves, 25%

6,275

knight moves, 16%

5,674

bishop moves, 15%

6,928

rook moves, 18%

4,812

queen moves, 13%

5,209

king moves, 14%

Captured and surviving

PieceCapturedStill on the board at the end
pawns3,66643%
knights1,33618%
bishops1,24423%
rooks96141%
queens54838%

Checkmates

Board heatmap

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

Busiest squares

  1. d41,453
  2. d51,346
  3. f61,240
  4. e41,226
  5. f31,137

Quietest square with any traffic: h1, 159.

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