A Blundered Queen Hands Uzbekistan the Sole Lead Heading Into the Rest Day
By Cameron W. · Tue, 22 Sep 2026
Round six settled a question the Open section had been building toward for two rounds straight: who would actually separate themselves from the pack of co-leaders. The answer arrived through one costly mistake on board three.
Round six settled a question the Open section had been building toward for two rounds straight: who would actually separate themselves from the pack of co-leaders. The answer arrived through one costly mistake on board three.Nihal Sarin's queen, and Uzbekistan's rewardUzbekistan beat defending champions India 2.5-1.5 in one of the most anticipated pairings of the tournament so far, and the match turned on a single moment. Nihal Sarin had been better against Nodirbek Yakubboev on both the board and the clock, but with half an hour still on his clock, he blundered his queen outright. Yakubboev converted from there, and the result put Uzbekistan alone at the top of the standings on a perfect 12 match points heading into Tuesday's rest day, the only team left with a spotless record.Germany's perfect run ends tooGermany, the tournament's other unbeaten team entering the round, lost 3-1 to China. Ding Liren beat Vincent Keymer on board one, and Xu Xiangyu beat Alexander Donchenko on board four, results that moved China into a share of second place. Armenia joined them there after beating Iran 2.5-1.5. With both of the other perfect records gone in the same round, Uzbekistan's position at the summit is now genuinely alone rather than shared.Where the Open standings sitAfter six rounds: Uzbekistan leads on 12 match points, with China and Armenia tied for second on 11. France, the Netherlands, Turkiye, and India follow on 10 apiece, meaning the group directly behind the leader is still crowded even if the very top has finally separated.The Netherlands' win came off the board, not on itThe Netherlands recorded a 4-0 scoreline against Israel in this round, but it wasn't earned over the board. Israel's teams forfeited after a scheduling dispute tied to Yom Kippur observance couldn't be resolved with that round's opponents, a story that's carried its own separate significance after a letter surfaced showing FIDE had already committed to accommodating Israel's schedule back in January.India's women answer back immediatelyA day after losing to Poland, India's women responded with a 3-1 win over the United States. IM Savitha Shri beat Rose Atwell, and IM Vantika Agrawal ground down Irina Krush over 65 patient moves, showing real composure to convert an advantage rather than letting it slip. Elsewhere in the Women's section, Georgia handed the tournament another notable result, beating host nation Uzbekistan 3.5-0.5 to put itself firmly back into medal contention alongside India.Time to restThe Open section goes into its break with a clear, sole leader for the first time all tournament, while the chasing pack directly behind Uzbekistan is as bunched as it's been all week. The Women's section, meanwhile, is proving considerably harder to call than its early seeding suggested, with genuine contenders trading wins and losses against each other rather than any one team pulling away.