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Chess Olympiad 2026

Round 8

410 of 412 games finished, 74% of them decisive. 23 teams won 4–0. United States of America had the best team performance, 2916.

CompleteUpdated 28 Sept 2026, 16:38 CEST, 2 forfeits

Round 8 in numbers

410

games finished of 412

74%

decisive; White scored 52%

47

moves per game

125

moves in the longest game

Results

159

White wins, 39%

108

draws, 26%

143

Black wins, 35%

17 checkmates on the board, 21 draws by repetition, 0 stalemates, 5 draws before move 30 and 2 forfeits.

Accuracy and time

89.4%

average accuracy, as Lichess scores it

2.31

blunders per game

720

mistakes, as Lichess marks them

945

blunders, as Lichess marks them

2:16

average time per move

11%

of moves played with under 5 minutes left

Lichess analysed 409 of 410 finished games, with 2,071 inaccuracies, 720 mistakes and 945 blunders. Times come from the relay clocks of 404 games. The extra 30 minutes after move 40 showed up on move 41 or 42 for 67% of 354 players, and never for 86 players who went past move 45.

Game awards

Crosshairs

8attackers

2 more, tied

The piece with the most attackers and defenders pointed at it at one moment.

Not awarded this round: Houdini.

Player awards

Ratings, titles and ages

Clock awards

From the relay clocks of 404 of 410 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 409 of 410 finished games. 1 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

51% scored by all who tried

12 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 409 of 410 finished games; the rest look at every finished game.

Collections

En Passant

31en passants

28 more

Every en passant capture of the round.

Holy Hell

26left alone

23 more

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

Greek Gift

6sacrifices

3 more

The classic bishop sacrifice on h7 (or …h2): the bishop took the pawn with check.

Connect Four

15rows of pawns

12 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

4Irish centres

1 more

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

Photo Finish

9photo finishes

6 more

Both sides promoted a pawn within four moves of each other.

Royal Court

11third queens

8 more

A third queen on the board.

Not awarded this round: Shahrukh, Pawn Cube, 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

23matches

20 more

Won the match 4–0, forfeits included.

Comeback Match

8matches

5 more

Lost on board 1 and still won the match.

Team of the Round

2916performance

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

Treaty of Samarkand

3matches

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

Theory Match

59½opening moves

The match that stayed in the book longest: the opening phases of its four boards added, in moves.

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

43.56per 100 moves

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

Check, Please

14checks per game

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

The Late Knight Show

6.5per game

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

Chicken Nation

23.35retreats per 100 moves

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

Forward March

4.55retreats per 100 moves

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

Pawn Pushers

35.71pawn moves per 100 moves

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

Wandering Kings

19king 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.

Déjà Vu

5identical moves

1 more, tied

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

Teams: clocks

Deep Thinkers

3:11per move

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

Quick Draw

0:57per move

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

Zeitnot Nation

51.2% under five minutes

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

Time in the Bank

1:17:18left on average

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

Over the relay clocks of 404 of 410 finished games; a team needs four such games.

Teams: engine

Precision Nation

97.5% accuracy

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

Over Lichess’s analysis of 409 of 410 finished games; a team needs four analysed games.

Notable games

Game phases

11

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 7.2 on average.

Endgames by type

EndgameReachedAt the end
Rook6443
King and pawn3327
Bishop3223
Queen and rook2812
Queen1810
Knight127

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 6443King and pawn 3327Bishop 3223Queen and rook 2812Queen 1810Knight 127

Tactics

7,612

captures, 18.6 per game

2,246

checks

662

castled kingside

78

castled queenside

12

games without castling

58

promotions, 2 under

31

en passant captures

Openings

First moves

  1. 1.e4
    48%
  2. 1.d4
    34%
  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.

AAnderssen's Opening 1Polish Opening 1Nimzo-Larsen Attack 4Bird Opening 2Zukertort Opening 8King's Indian Attack 8King's Indian Attack, with e6 3English Opening 30English Defense 1Englund Gambit Declined 1Horwitz Defense 3Modern Defense 1Indian Defense 14Trompowsky Attack 2Torre Attack 2Yusupov-Rubinstein System 2East Indian Defense 1London System 1Queen's Pawn Game 2Slav Indian 1Benko Gambit Accepted 1Dutch Defense 6BNimzowitsch Defense 1Pirc Defense 10Rat Defense 1Scandinavian Defense 6Alekhine Defense 1Caro-Kann Defense 33Sicilian Defense 83CFrench Defense 21Vienna Game 1Bishop's Opening 2Petrov's Defense 4Ponziani Opening 1Scotch Game 6Three Knights Opening 2Four Knights Game 3Italian Game 11Ruy Lopez 13DQueen's Pawn Game 8Rapport-Jobava System 8Rubinstein Opening 2Slav Defense 8Queen's Gambit Accepted 3Queen's Gambit Declined 25Tarrasch Defense 2Semi-Slav Defense 2Grünfeld Defense 5ECatalan Opening 9Blumenfeld Countergambit 1Indian Defense 4Bogo-Indian Defense 5Queen's Indian Defense 6Nimzo-Indian Defense 10King's Indian Defense 18

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 52%gamesSicilian DefenseCaro-Kann DefenseEnglish OpeningQueen's Gambit Decl…French DefenseIndian DefenseKing's Indian DefenseRuy LopezItalian GameNimzo-Indian DefensePirc DefenseQueen's Pawn GameCatalan OpeningKing's Indian AttackRapport-Jobava Syst…Slav DefenseZukertort OpeningDutch DefenseQueen's Indian Defe…Scandinavian DefenseScotch GameBogo-Indian DefenseGrünfeld DefenseNimzo-Larsen AttackPetrov's Defense8333302521181813111010109888866665544
The numbers
FamilyGamesWhite winsDrawsBlack winsWhite’s score
Sicilian Defense8326263147%
Caro-Kann Defense33177962%
English Opening30147958%
Queen's Gambit Declined251210368%
French Defense2188557%
Indian Defense1864844%
King's Indian Defense18531036%
Ruy Lopez1356262%
Italian Game1143450%
Nimzo-Indian Defense1010910%
Pirc Defense1025345%
Queen's Pawn Game1020820%
Catalan Opening942356%
King's Indian Attack833256%
Rapport-Jobava System840450%
Slav Defense851269%
Zukertort Opening851269%
Dutch Defense640267%
Queen's Indian Defense622250%
Scandinavian Defense632167%
Scotch Game640267%
Bogo-Indian Defense513150%
Grünfeld Defense521250%
Nimzo-Larsen Attack430175%
Petrov's Defense420250%

Best for White

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation580%
A14 English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined570%
E01 Catalan Opening: Closed560%
A45 Indian Defense: Accelerated London System560%

Best for Black

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
B90 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation633%
B30 Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack633%
D01 Rapport-Jobava System850%
B00 Pirc Defense750%

Openings with at least 5 games.

Rarest openings of the round

Pieces

9,758

pawn moves, 26%

6,127

knight moves, 16%

5,978

bishop moves, 16%

6,767

rook moves, 18%

4,860

queen moves, 13%

4,841

king moves, 13%

Captured and surviving

PieceCapturedStill on the board at the end
pawns3,56145%
knights1,34418%
bishops1,23725%
rooks91644%
queens55439%

Checkmates

17on the board

8 by White, 9 by Black

Mating pieceGames
Queen11
  1. move 20Ilkhomi, Jaloliddin TJK mated Berend, Fred LUX
  2. move 29Nompavos, Lesly VAN mated Jeetlall, David SKN
  3. move 31Fomevor, Cephas Clinton GHA mated MBOULA MBOUMBA, Jerome GAB
  4. move 33Barredo, Resurrecion PNG mated Prasad, Rudr FIJ
  5. move 34Heron, Andrew LIE mated Leardini, Mirko SMR
  6. move 43Alothman,Ali Layth Ahmed IRQ mated Victor, Wyclef HAI
  7. move 44Middelburg, Tom NZL mated Blackburn, Jonathan L B WLS
  8. move 44Tchouka, Yakini TOG mated Douyere, Nicolas NCL
  9. move 48Pantsulaia, Levan GEO mated Mihajlov, Sebastian CRC
  10. move 49Aboubacar Akarintkitt NIG mated SAROTA, PATRICK CHRISTOPHER TAN
  11. move 52Semeko, Lumen Paco TOG mated Bellier Pontais, Titouan NCL
Rook3
  1. move 36Fernandez Hernandez, Arturo A. MEX mated Nielsen, Jon I Horni FAI
  2. move 41Ali Abdullahi, Farah SOM mated Morand, Sylvain BUR
  3. move 50Benetio Bio KIR mated John, Javid Bruce MHL
Bishop2
  1. move 55Sargsyan, Shant ARM mated Van Wely, Loek NED
  2. move 59Thomas, Winston Gerald Mansfield SLE mated Awe, Alfred BIZ
Knight1
  1. move 29Nicholas, Arvin LCA mated Sootanga, Tevita TGA
Pawn0

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

Fastest mates

  1. Move 20, mate with the queenIM Fred Berend LUX 22310againstIM Jaloliddin Ilkhomi TJK 23911
  2. Move 29, mate with the knightArvin Nicholas LCA 17101againstTevita Sootanga TGA0
  3. Move 29, mate with the queenDavid Jeetlall SKN 14880againstLesly Nompavos VAN 15421
  4. Move 31, mate with the queenCM Cephas Clinton Fomevor GHA 19261againstJerome Mboula Mboumba GAB 18120
  5. Move 33, mate with the queenCM Rudr Prasad FIJ 17690againstResurrecion Barredo PNG1

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.

0204060QueenRookBishopKnightPawn

Board heatmap

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

Busiest squares

  1. d41,381
  2. d51,317
  3. e51,182
  4. e41,169
  5. f61,150

Quietest square with any traffic: a1, 147.

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