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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Two months before the Olympiad, Oleksandr Beliavskyi did not include the reigning European champion Roman Degtyaryov in the team. That could be explained by the coach relying on tested fighters. Three days before the start the 18-year-old Kharkiv native still flew to Samarkand. However, it was under circumstances that nobody wanted: due to health problems the world champion Ruslan Ponomariov is skipping the tournament.
There were also interesting twists in the women’s team. The top board there is held not by former world champion Anna Ushenina, but by the 16-year-old Anastasiia Hnatyshyn, who won the European Championship this spring. As usual, unfortunately, the team is going to the tournament without its main striking force – the sisters Anna and Mariya Muzychuk... Despite everything, both Ukrainian teams have a chance to perform respectably at the Chess Olympiad.
Who will become the leader of the men’s and women’s Ukrainian teams and whom to watch out for at the tournament – in LB.ua’s Olympiad preview.
Betting on Youth Due to a Forced Replacement
The Olympiad had barely begun when the Ukrainian team suffered a significant loss. Due to health reasons the team leader Ruslan Ponomariov will not play at the tournament. It’s hard to overestimate the importance of this fact. Ruslan was the ideal figure who could hold the first board. Among our rivals there is no one he couldn’t fight. Moreover, his results have improved substantially recently, and the quality of his games resembled the Ruslan who crushed everyone at the turn of the new millennium. Well, what can you do… Let’s wish the former world champion a successful recovery from these troubles!
Ukrainian Chess Players in Samarkand
Instead of him, head coach Oleksandr Beliavskyi included the European champion, the 2026-year-old Kharkiv native Roman Degtyaryov — the very same player who had no place on the roster in July. So, the current team lineup looks like this (by rating):
Ihor Kovalenko — 2642
Vasyl Ivanchuk — 2630
Anton Korobov — 2610
Ihor Samunenkov — 2608
Roman Degtyaryov — 2508
Thus, by rating our team is 12-th, average coefficient — 2623.
Degtyaryov with the European champion’s trophy
A few words about Degtyaryov. In April in Katowice, Poland he started as 126-th out of 501 participants, scored 9 points out of 11, finished alone in first place and became the first European champion in history to win the title without holding the grandmaster title. Performance — 2781. You can expect anything from this young man at the board.
Despite personnel problems, the Ukrainian team still has undeniable assets. First and foremost is the team captain (as coaches are called at the Olympiad, — Ed.) Oleksandr Beliavskyi. This experienced mentor, who seems to know everything about chess, is also an excellent psychologist who can tune his charges to fight any opponent.
Ihor Samunenkov thinks about a move during a chess game
The second factor is our “tail,” that is, the lower boards. The young Samunenkov and Degtyaryov are capable of showing their best. How they perform will largely determine the team’s fate.
And who are the favorites of the Olympiad? First and foremost, the players from the USA. They will field Fabiano Caruana (2792), Wesley So (2765), Hans Niemann (2725) and Levon Aronian (2721). A fantastic lineup! Average rating — 2753. But note that the team does not include Hikaru Nakamura or Leinier Domínguez. With them this crew would be absolutely unbeatable, so their absence gives competitors a chance.
For example, the Indian team. The lineup of the previous Olympiad’s winners is also impressive: Arjun Erigaisi (2759), Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (we will call him “Praggy”) — 2750, Nihal Sarin (2718), World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh (2703) and Vidit Gujrathi (2697). Average coefficient — 2735. Pay attention to the order: the reigning world champion is registered on the fourth board. In Budapest Gukesh played on the first board and produced one of the best individual results in Olympiad history — 9 out of 10.
Javokhir Sindarov
Certainly the hosts will also strive for victory (2720). They are led by crown contender Javokhir Sindarov (2777). After the Olympiad he will begin preparing for a match with Gukesh in Geneva. On the second board the brilliant player Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2762). Their teammates — Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Muhiddin Madaminov — are also strong grandmasters. And the Uzbeks’ captain is former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
There are also strong teams from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Hungary, France, Armenia and many others. So the competition promises to be extremely interesting!
A New Challenge for the Reigning European Champion
As we know, our best women players — sisters Anna and Mariya Muzychuk — were unable to come to an agreement with the Chess Federation of Ukraine, so they will miss the Olympiad. Of course, had they participated our team could have contended for top places, and certainly for medals.
Ukrainian Women’s Chess Players in Samarkand
Head coach of the Ukrainian women’s team, grandmaster Mykhailo Brodskyi, announced the following roster:
WGM (Woman Grandmaster) Anastasiia Hnatyshyn — 2463;
GM (Grandmaster) Anna Ushenina — 2412;
IM (International Master) Nataliia Buksa — 2390;
WGM Anastasiia Rakhmangulova — 2317;
Tetiana Skarbarchuk — 2221.
Average coefficient — 2398, this is the sixth seed at the tournament.
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn (left) during a chess game
This order is not conditional. According to the regulations the captain submits players in a fixed board order before the first round, and it cannot be changed during the tournament — reserves can only play on the lower boards. So we note that Hnatyshyn holds the first board, Ushenina the second.
I will only remind you that, in my opinion, it would have been most appropriate to place the former world champion Ushenina on the first board. Why? Anya can quite well hold the first board, where the strongest female players in the world from China, India, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, etc., will play. However, the argument in favor of Hnatyshyn is also ironclad. In Batumi the 16-year-old Kyiv native won the European Championship, starting as 76-th by rating, scoring 9 points out of 11, adding more than 200 rating points, earning the WGM title and her first International Master norm. Clearly, Mr. Brodskyi can see better, so if he decided so — it’s correct.
Ukrainian player Tetiana Skarbarchuk
What can our team realistically aim for? Of course, it will be rather difficult for the Ukrainian women to fight for gold. But with some luck contesting the medals is quite possible. Especially since one can place certain hopes on our “tail” — Rakhmangulova and Skarbarchuk. The latter, by the way, won the Ukrainian Championship in Lviv in December, scoring 8,5 out of 9 and securing the title with a round to spare.
Nataliia Buksa during the Chess Olympiad.
So, the main contenders for victory are the Indian women (2476). The team includes Koneru Humpy, who returned after skipping Budapest, Vaishali Rameshbabu (a contender for the chess crown), Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Savitha Shri. For Georgia (2449) play Nana Dzagnidze, Nino Batsiashvili, Lela Javakhishvili, Bella Khotenashvili and Meri Arabidze. The Chinese team this time is not represented by its strongest lineup: neither world champion Ju Wenjun, nor Lei Tingjie, nor Tan Zhongyi are present. Still, it’s too early to write off the Chinese — the team is led by Zhu Jiner, who won individual gold on the first board in Budapest.
The U.S. women’s team (Carissa Yip, Alice Lee, Irina Krush), Poland (Klaudia Kulon, Oliwia Kiołbasa and Monika Socko), and Kazakhstan (Bibisara Assaubayeva) also have good chances for success.
Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 2026 year
The Olympiad takes place in Samarkand. The opening ceremony was held on 15 September, the first round — on 16, finish — on 27. This is the largest tournament in the event’s history — 400 teams: 208 in the open section and 192 in the women’s. That is 20 more than the Budapest-2024 record. They play 11 rounds using the Swiss system. Scoring is team-based. A match win is 2 points, a draw — 1. Each squad has 4 main players and 1 reserve.
A New Era in Chess
Also during the tournament there will be elections for FIDE president. Recall that Arkady Dvorkovich, who represented the aggressor country, was sanctioned by the EU in July — Brussels accuses him of using his position to support Russian policy that undermines Ukraine’s territorial integrity. After that he suspended his powers for the duration of the sanctions. The duties of the president are currently performed by the vice president, the 15-th world champion Viswanathan Anand.
Dvorkovich has withdrawn from the electoral race. The General Assembly vote will take place on 26 September; three tickets are running: Timur Turlov with Anand, Vadim Rozenstein with Gordon Tang, and Jan Henrik Büttner with Malcolm Payne.
FIDE has a chance for cleansing, but whether it will take it remains an open question.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Усе вирішить хвіст. Чому доля збірної України на Шаховій олімпіаді залежить від підлітків". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: LB.ua.
