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Chess Olympiad 2026

Round 9

412 of 412 games finished, 72% of them decisive. 10 teams won 4–0. Uzbekistan 2 had the best team performance, 2975.

CompleteUpdated 28 Sept 2026, 16:38 CEST

Round 9 in numbers

412

games finished of 412

72%

decisive; White scored 54%

47

moves per game

133

moves in the longest game

Results

167

White wins, 41%

115

draws, 28%

130

Black wins, 32%

13 checkmates on the board, 16 draws by repetition, 3 stalemates, 6 draws before move 30 and 0 forfeits.

Left out of the statistics: Shamoy Joseph – 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.

Accuracy and time

89.2%

average accuracy, as Lichess scores it

2.42

blunders per game

711

mistakes, as Lichess marks them

995

blunders, as Lichess marks them

2:16

average time per move

12%

of moves played with under 5 minutes left

Lichess analysed 411 of 411 finished games, with 2,026 inaccuracies, 711 mistakes and 995 blunders. Times come from the relay clocks of 403 games. The extra 30 minutes after move 40 showed up on move 41 or 42 for 70% of 351 players, and never for 86 players who went past move 45.

Game awards

Bloodbath

30captures

3 more, tied

Most captures in one game of at least 10 moves.

Crosshairs

8attackers

11 more, tied

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

Player awards

Ratings, titles and ages

Clock awards

Not awarded this round: Flag Fall.

From the relay clocks of 403 of 411 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 411 of 411 finished games. Inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders are the ones Lichess marks on the move.

Chess culture

Never Play f6

55% scored by all who tried

8 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

1 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: Botez Gambit.

Homages to chess memes, famous games and Samarkand lore, meant kindly. Brilliant!!, Botez Gambit and The Carlsen Grind use Lichess’s analysis of 411 of 411 finished games; the rest look at every finished game.

Collections

En Passant

37en passants

34 more

Every en passant capture of the round.

Family Fork

9forks

6 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

17left alone

14 more

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

Greek Gift

7sacrifices

4 more

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

Connect Four

12rows of pawns

9 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.

Royal Court

7third queens

4 more

A third queen on the board.

Not awarded this round: Shahrukh, Il Vaticano, 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

10matches

7 more

Won the match 4–0, forfeits included.

Comeback Match

14matches

11 more

Lost on board 1 and still won the match.

Team of the Round

2975performance

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

Treaty of Samarkand

4matches

1 more

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

Thrill Ride

8eval 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

46.78per 100 moves

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

Check, Please

15checks 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.

Chicken Nation

22.94retreats per 100 moves

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

Forward March

8.28retreats per 100 moves

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

Pawn Pushers

34.68pawn 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

21.25king 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

8½identical 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

3:12per move

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

Quick Draw

1:04per move

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

Zeitnot Nation

39.5% under five minutes

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

Time in the Bank

45:18left on average

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

Over the relay clocks of 403 of 411 finished games; a team needs four such games.

Teams: engine

Notable games

Game phases

11

moves of opening

19

moves of middlegame

22

moves of endgame

Averages per game, with the phases split as Lichess splits them. 81% of the games reached an endgame; the first capture came on move 7.1 on average.

Endgames by type

EndgameReachedAt the end
Rook6952
Bishop2920
King and pawn2821
Queen and rook265
Queen1916
Knight1511

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 6952Bishop 2920King and pawn 2821Queen and rook 265Queen 1916Knight 1511

Tactics

Openings

First moves

  1. 1.e4
    47%
  2. 1.d4
    33%
  3. 1.Nf3
    10%
  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.

ANimzo-Larsen Attack 4Bird Opening 2Zukertort Opening 8King's Indian Attack 8King's Indian Attack, with e6 1Réti Opening 1English Opening 29Canard Opening 1Indian Defense 14Torre Attack 1Yusupov-Rubinstein System 2Pseudo Queen's Indian Defense 1East Indian Defense 2London System 2Old Indian Defense 3Benko Gambit 1Benko Gambit Accepted 2Benoni Defense 2BNimzowitsch Defense 1Pirc Defense 2Scandinavian Defense 3Modern Defense 3Czech Defense 1King's Pawn Game 1Caro-Kann Defense 23Sicilian Defense 81CFrench Defense 25King's Pawn Game 1Bishop's Opening 3Gunderam Defense 1Philidor Defense 3Petrov's Defense 2Scotch Game 4Three Knights Opening 1Four Knights Game 5Italian Game 21Ruy Lopez 16DQueen's Pawn Game 8Rapport-Jobava System 3Richter-Veresov Attack 2Queen's Gambit Declined 30Slav Defense 6Queen's Gambit Accepted 6Semi-Slav Defense 8Tarrasch Defense 2Neo-Grünfeld Defense 2Grünfeld Defense 1ECatalan Opening 7Indian Defense 5Bogo-Indian Defense 7Queen's Indian Defense 8Nimzo-Indian Defense 14King'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 54%gamesSicilian DefenseQueen's Gambit Decl…English OpeningFrench DefenseCaro-Kann DefenseItalian GameKing's Indian DefenseIndian DefenseRuy LopezNimzo-Indian DefenseKing's Indian AttackQueen's Indian Defe…Queen's Pawn GameSemi-Slav DefenseZukertort OpeningBogo-Indian DefenseCatalan OpeningQueen's Gambit Acc…Slav DefenseFour Knights GameNimzo-Larsen AttackScotch GameBishop's OpeningModern DefenseOld Indian Defense81302925232121191614888887766544333
The numbers
FamilyGamesWhite winsDrawsBlack winsWhite’s score
Sicilian Defense8133232555%
Queen's Gambit Declined30139858%
English Opening29137957%
French Defense25108756%
Caro-Kann Defense2368944%
Italian Game2166943%
King's Indian Defense21105660%
Indian Defense1964942%
Ruy Lopez1648450%
Nimzo-Indian Defense1446450%
King's Indian Attack862088%
Queen's Indian Defense861181%
Queen's Pawn Game832350%
Semi-Slav Defense842263%
Zukertort Opening833256%
Bogo-Indian Defense714243%
Catalan Opening711521%
Queen's Gambit Accepted623158%
Slav Defense631258%
Four Knights Game540180%
Nimzo-Larsen Attack421163%
Scotch Game412150%
Bishop's Opening3300100%
Modern Defense310233%
Old Indian Defense3300100%

Best for White

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
B92 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation580%
C11 French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Boleslavsky Variation570%
B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense667%
B31 Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack, Fianchetto Variation560%

Best for Black

OpeningGamesWhite’s score
D53 Queen's Gambit Declined956%
B95 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation757%
B31 Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack, Fianchetto Variation560%
B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense667%

Openings with at least 5 games.

Rarest openings of the round

Pieces

9,871

pawn moves, 25%

6,216

knight moves, 16%

5,846

bishop moves, 15%

6,939

rook moves, 18%

4,870

queen moves, 13%

5,093

king moves, 13%

Captured and surviving

PieceCapturedStill on the board at the end
pawns3,66444%
knights1,34718%
bishops1,22026%
rooks96441%
queens53840%

Checkmates

Board heatmap

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

Busiest squares

  1. d41,356
  2. d51,244
  3. f61,236
  4. e51,232
  5. e41,208

Quietest square with any traffic: h8, 168.

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