Three teams, 15 chess players. Who will represent the men's national teams of Uzbekistan at the Olympiad in Samarkand

Three teams, 15 chess players. Who will represent the men's national teams of Uzbekistan at the Olympiad in Samarkand

On September 15, the 46th World Chess Olympiad will start in Samarkand. The tournament will last until September 27 and will be held in Central Asia for the first time in history.

At the home Olympiad, Uzbekistan will field three men's national teams at once — 15 players in total. The main team received the third seed and is once again among the contenders for medals.

Its roster includes four chess players who sensationally won the Olympiad in Chennai in 2022: Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and Shamsiddin Vokhidov. The second and third national teams will feature both experienced grandmasters and representatives of the new generation.

"Gazeta" profiles the 15 chess players who will represent Uzbekistan at the home Olympiad, their ratings, and their main achievements.

Under normal circumstances, each national federation is represented by one team at the Olympiad. An exception is made for the hosts.

According to FIDE rules, the host federation can field a second team — Team B. If the total number of participating teams is odd, the hosts are entitled to add a third team — Team C. If the third roster has already played in the first round, it remains in the tournament until the end, regardless of subsequent withdrawals or additions of teams.

In Samarkand, Uzbekistan is represented by all three rosters. The first national team received the third seed based on the team's average rating, Uzbekistan 2 is seeded 31st, and Uzbekistan 3 is seeded 55th.

The average rating of the first national team is 2720. The captain is the former world champion and legend of Uzbek chess, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who previously spoke in an interview with "Gazeta" about the preparation, board order, opponents, and the team's chances for gold.

From the five-player squad that brought Uzbekistan a sensational gold at the 2022 Olympiad, Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and Shamsiddin Vokhidov will play in the first roster again.

The fifth member of that team — Jakhongir Vakhidov — is now registered for Uzbekistan 2, and his place in the main five has been taken by 19-year-old Mukhiddin Madaminov. In 2022, Uzbekistan went through all 11 rounds without a single team defeat.

Two years later, with almost the same roster, the national team took bronze at the Olympiad in Budapest. Shamsiddin Vokhidov additionally won individual gold on the fourth board, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov took silver on the first board.

In the four years following the Olympic gold, Sindarov has gone from being one of the talents of the young national team to a contender for the world championship title. His preparation and participation in international tournaments, including the 2026 World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, as well as his work with coaches, are supported by

He became a grandmaster back in 2018 — at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and five days, becoming one of the youngest holders of this title in history. Sindarov also became the champion of Uzbekistan twice — in 2019 and 2021.

The main breakthrough happened in 2025. Sindarov won the FIDE World Cup in Goa, defeating China's Wei Yi in the final, and became the youngest winner of the tournament in its history. In the semifinals, he defeated his national team partner Nodirbek Yakubboev.

The victory at the World Cup qualified him for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. There, Sindarov secured first place with a round to spare and earned the right to play a match for the world chess crown against the reigning champion Dommaraju Gukesh.

By September, Sindarov raised his rating to 2778 and ranks fourth among the strongest chess players in the world.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov — 21 years old, rating 2762

Abdusattorov will celebrate his 22nd birthday right during the Olympiad — on September 18. Despite his age, he has been part of the world elite for several years.

In December 2021, the 17-year-old Abdusattorov won the World Rapid Championship. During the tournament, he defeated Magnus Carlsen, among others, and finished ahead of Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the battle for first place. The champion was determined in a tie-break, where the Uzbek player defeated Nepomniachtchi.

The following summer, Abdusattorov played on the first board of the national team that won the Olympiad in Chennai. He scored 8.5 points out of 11 and showed a performance rating of 2803. In the individual standings of the first board, the Uzbek player received a silver medal.

At the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest, he was again the leader of the team that finished the tournament with bronze, and once again won individual silver.

After an unsuccessful World Cup for him in February 2026, Abdusattorov won one of the most prestigious round-robin tournaments in the world — the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. He then took the London Chess Classic super-tournament and the Prague International Chess Festival.

Yakubboev is one of the most experienced participants of the current team, although he is only 24 years old.

He became the champion of Uzbekistan in 2016, 2018, and 2020, and in April 2025, he won the national championship for the fourth time. In the final of the last tournament, Yakubboev defeated Ortik Nigmatov.

At the 2022 Olympiad, Yakubboev played on the second board and scored 8 points out of 11 with a performance rating of 2759. Along with the team gold, he received an individual bronze on his board.

One of the biggest results in individual tournaments for him was the 2025 World Cup. Yakubboev reached the semifinals, where he met Sindarov. The classical games ended in a draw, and Sindarov won the tie-break. In the match for third place, Yakubboev lost to Andrey Esipenko and ultimately finished fourth among the 206 participants of the World Cup.

Recently in Tashkent, Yakubboev won a match against the leader of the Iranian national team, Amin Tabatabaei, who is in the world top 15. In the live ratings, the Uzbek player approached 2700 — the level of a super-grandmaster.

Photo: UzA

Vokhidov first made a loud statement in youth chess: in 2015, he won the World Championship among players under 14. Three years later, the 16-year-old Uzbek player defeated Magnus Carlsen at the World Rapid Championship.

At the 2022 Olympiad, which brought gold to Uzbekistan, Vokhidov was a reserve player and played four games, scoring 3.5 points.

In 2023, he achieved one of his biggest individual successes: he became the Asian Champion in classical chess. At the tournament in Almaty, Vokhidov scored 7 points out of 9 and finished sole first, half a point ahead of his closest rivals.

And the 2024 Olympiad became one of the best in his career. Vokhidov helped Uzbekistan win team bronze and received individual gold on the fourth board.

Photo: UzChess

Madaminov is the only chess player of the first national team who has not participated in adult Olympiads. He received the grandmaster title in 2024, and over the next two seasons, he approached the 2600 level.

Back in 2023, as an International Master with a rating of 2431, Madaminov took eighth place at the Asian Championship, scoring 6 points out of 9.

The main success of his adult career came in the summer of 2026. Madaminov won the strongest group of the UzChess Cup Masters. After nine rounds, he shared first place with Vokhidov, and then won both tie-break games.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and other famous grandmasters also played in the tournament. FIDE called this victory probably the biggest in Madaminov's career.

He was also a second to Javokhir Sindarov at the World Cup and the Candidates Tournament.

Thus, the youngest and least experienced member of the first national team in terms of adult Olympiads approaches Samarkand after the best tournament result of his career.

The second national team has an average rating of 2532 and is seeded 31st.

The team captain is Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov — one of the most experienced chess players on the coaching staff of Uzbekistan. As part of the Ukrainian national team, he won the Chess Olympiad twice — in 2004 and 2010. Eljanov also worked as a second to Boris Gelfand, including during the 2012 World Championship match against Viswanathan Anand.

At the same time, calling it simply a reserve squad would not be entirely correct. All five chess players are grandmasters, one has already become an Olympic champion, and the two youngest members of the team are only 16 and 17 years old.

Photo: UzChess

Abdisalimov received the grandmaster title in 2023. One of his early international successes was winning the West Asian Championship among players under 20 in 2019 — he scored 7.5 points and took first place.

In 2026, Abdisalimov finished in the top three at the Georgy Agzamov Memorial in Tashkent. Three rounds before the finish, he shared the lead, and in the final standings, he took third place.

Photo: UzChess

Suyarov is one of the fastest-progressing representatives of the new generation of Uzbek chess players.

In April 2025, he already became one of the main sensations of the Championship of Uzbekistan, knocking out the second seed Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the quarterfinals. Then Suyarov took third place, winning the bronze medal match against Mukhiddin Madaminov.

One of Suyarov's most notable results in 2026 was his performance at the Aeroflot Open. The 17-year-old International Master, who started the tournament with a rating of 2449 and the 62nd starting number, scored 6.5 points out of 9 and took seventh place, showing a rating performance of 2737. In three consecutive rounds, he defeated strong Russian grandmasters Daniil Dubov, Alexander Riazantsev, and Alexander Grischuk, and in the final round, he drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi, who had a rating of 2723. Following the tournament, Suyarov gained 33.9 rating points.

In the spring, the chess player won the Grenke Chess Open in Germany. He went through nine rounds without defeat — seven wins and two draws — and scored 8 points. More than 3,500 players participated in the largest chess festival, and Suyarov received 20,000 euros for winning the main classical tournament.

The oldest chess player of all three national teams of Uzbekistan is at the same time one of the main heroes of the historic gold of 2022.

At the Olympiad in Chennai, Vakhidov played on the fourth board and scored 6.5 points in eight games. His rating performance was 2813 — the best result among Uzbek players. In the final round, it was Vakhidov's victory over Max Warmerdam that helped Uzbekistan defeat the Netherlands and win gold. Vakhidov also became the owner of an individual gold medal on the fourth board.

In 2023, it became known that Vakhidov was part of Ding Liren's coaching team and was one of his seconds in the Chinese grandmaster's victorious match for the world championship title against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Immediately before the Olympiad, Vakhidov also won the Masters tournament as part of the 32nd Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, which ended in late August. The grandmaster, who started the competition under the 14th starting number, scored 7 points out of 9 and did not suffer a single defeat — finishing five games with a victory and four in a draw.

Begmuratov was born on July 2, 2010, and is the youngest participant of the second national team. In the starting list of the Olympiad, he is already listed as a grandmaster, a norm he completed in April.

The main result of 2026 is the victory in the Futures group at the UzChess Cup. Experienced grandmasters Alan Pichot, Sethuraman, Rinat Jumabayev, Sergey Tiviakov, and Igor Lysyj also played in this tournament, but first place went to the 16-year-old representative of Uzbekistan.

Nigmatov received the grandmaster title in 2025 after crossing the required rating mark of 2500. Before that, he had already managed to accumulate notable experience in team competitions.

In 2022, Nigmatov was part of the Uzbekistan squad at the World Team Championship. The team reached the final and became the silver medalist, losing to China. In one of the final matches, Nigmatov played on the fourth board.

In 2025, he reached the final of the Championship of Uzbekistan. After a draw in the first game, Nigmatov lost the second to Yakubboev and won silver.

The average rating of the third national team is 2424, seed number — 55. Kazakh Grandmaster Murtas Kazhgaleyev is registered as its captain.

Unlike the first two rosters, there is not a single player with the grandmaster title here: all five chess players hold the title of International Master. But almost everyone already has victories in international or youth competitions.

Saidaliev is the rating leader of the third national team. In 2024, he took third place in the Futures group of the first UzChess Cup. The International Master scored 5.5 points out of 9 in a tournament with an average rating of 2520, losing only to Vitaliy Sivuk and Bardiya Daneshvar.

His career also includes victories over chess players of the 2700 level: according to the ChessBase database, the highest-rated opponent Saidaliev has defeated in a classical game is American Grandmaster Jeffery Xiong — his rating at that time was 2709.

Rakhmatullaev was particularly successful in youth competitions within the country.

In 2023, he won the Championship of Uzbekistan among boys under 18 in several disciplines at once: he became first in classical chess, rapid, and blitz.

Among his international results are victories at the West Asian Championship in classical and rapid in 2023, as well as first place at the Karipbaev Memorial in Kazakhstan in 2025.

In August, he took second place at the Kapadokya Open in Turkey — 6.5 points out of 9 without a single defeat, finishing just half a point behind the winner.

Almas Rakhmatullaev is known not only for classical tournaments but also as a strong online blitz player. He regularly streams chess games and analyses for City Chess, and in 2025, he joined Vasily Ivanchuk's coaching staff at the Grand Swiss in Samarkand as a second.

Bakhrillaev already has two world champion titles in his age category — though not in classical chess.

At the home FIDE World School Championship in rapid and blitz in Tashkent in 2024, he won the U17 competitions in both formats. First, Bakhrillaev became the world champion in rapid, and then repeated the result in blitz.

FIDE separately noted him among the three participants of the tournament who managed to complete such a double.

A year earlier, he also became the champion of Uzbekistan among players under 16.

Abdurakhmonov holds the title of International Master and has been competing in international competitions for many years.

In 2019, at the West Asian Youth Championship, he won bronze in classical chess among participants under 18, scoring 6 points. At the same championship, Abdurakhmonov won the U18 rapid tournament with a score of 5.5 points.

In 2026, he continued to regularly play strong international opens, including the Grenke Chess Open, where he scored 6.5 points.

The lowest rating among the 15 registered Uzbek chess players does not mean the absence of major results.

At the end of last year, he won the gold medal at the World Rapid Championship among players under 17.

In the spring of this year, the 17-year-old International Master won the Tashkent GM round-robin grandmaster tournament. Omonov scored 6 points out of 9 and finished ahead of Ortik Nigmatov on tie-breaks. Among the participants were also grandmasters Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Mikhail Nikitenko, and Xiangrui Kong.

For Omonov, as well as for several of his partners in the third national team, Samarkand will be an opportunity to play for the first time in the largest adult team tournament in close proximity to the world elite.

Four years ago, Uzbekistan arrived at the Olympiad in Chennai as the 14th seed and unexpectedly won gold. Now the Olympiad is held at home, and the first national team starts the tournament already as the third seed. FIDE also ranks the hosts among the main contenders for medals.