46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand

The 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, commenced with several national teams securing perfect opening scores. Argentina and Cuba both achieved 4-0 victories in their respective men’s and women’s categories. Argentina’s performance featured the debut of 12-year-old Grandmaster Faustino Oro, who won his match on the first board. Cuba’s men’s team defeated Suriname, while their women’s team defeated Guam.

Montenegro also recorded maximum victories in the first round. The men’s team secured a 4-0 win against Curaçao, with individual victories from Nikita Petrov, Nikola Đukić, Luka Drašković, and Nemanja Vukčević. The women’s team also achieved a 4-0 result against Sudan, featuring wins by Aleksandra Milović, Nikolina Koljević, and Mateja Popović, while Alena Skvorcova earned a point. In subsequent rounds, the Montenegrin men’s team maintained momentum with a 3.5:0.5 victory over Zambia, and the women’s team secured a historic 2:2 draw against a highly-rated Georgian team.

However, both Montenegrin national teams suffered their first defeats during the third round. The men’s team lost 3:1 to Turkey, the 14th seed, following losses by Denis Kadrić and Luka Draskovic, leaving the team with a record of two wins and one loss. The women’s team also lost 3:1 to the Czech Republic; while Aleksandra Zerebcova secured a victory on the first board, Alena Skvorcova and Aleksandra Milovic lost due to time pressure errors.

The Czech national team has also performed strongly, securing three victories in their first four rounds—including wins against Belarus and Kyrgyzstan—and a draw against Germany. The tournament utilizes a Swiss system over 11 rounds.