Uzbekistan and China are the champions of the 46th Chess Olympiad, which ended Sunday in Samarkand. The hosts won the Open section on home soil, beating Ukraine 2.5-1.5 in the final round to finish on 20 of 22 match points, two clear of the field. Grandmaster Mukhiddin Madaminov was the last-day hero, winning the decisive game against Roman Dehtiarov. It is Uzbekistan’s second Open gold after Chennai 2022, with a bronze in Budapest 2024 between. Javokhir Sindarov finished unbeaten, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov scored 8 of 11 with a 2900 performance. Defending champions India took silver on tiebreaks after drawing 2-2 with Hungary. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju lost to Gleb Dudin, but Arjun Erigaisi’s win secured the match draw. Germany beat the Netherlands 2.5-1.5 for bronze. In the Women’s Olympiad, China won their seventh gold medal after a 3-1 final-round win over Vietnam. Kazakhstan took silver and India bronze, with Savitha Shri rescuing a 2-2 draw against Georgia. A record 400 teams competed across 11 rounds.